My Seat is Intact, Says Kwara Lawmaker

Hammed Shittu in Ilorin

 A member of the Kwara State House of Assembly representing Ojomu/Balogun constituency of Offa Local Government Area of the state, Hon. Saheed Adekeye Popoola, yesterday said no individual or group of persons has any locus standi to declare his seat vacant over his defection from All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Social Democratic Party(SDP).

He said his defection to SDP was borne out of the intra party crisis that ensued during the time of his membership of  the APC which was factionalised into two groups .

Speaking with journalists in Ilorin against the backdrop of the purported declaration of his seat vacant by the leadership of the state House of Assembly based on his defection to the SDP, the lawmaker, however, said: “I have obtained court injunction which I served all the parties concerned on March 28, 2022, which they all acknowledged of the restraining order on the move to declare my seat vacant.”

Speaker of the Assembly, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Salihu Danladi at the floor of the Assembly during yesterday plenary declared Popoola’s seat vacant noting that: “The declaration is in consonance with Section 109 (1) G of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.”

He, however, said the constitution is clear as Hon. Saheed Popoola ought to have vacated his seat at Ojomu/Balogun constituency of Offa LGA having defected from the APC to SDP.

But Popoola said: “I want to say that no individual or group of persons and even INEC has the locu standi to declare my

seat vacant on the premises of my defection from APC to SDP.”

He said: “When I heard the rumour, I obtained a court injunction on March 28, 2022, and which the court served the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Salihu-Danladi, and all other parties and which they all acknowledged without any problem.

“So, if anything contrary occurs now, it is an illegal action and null and void, and the court will take appropriate action without further delay.”

Popoola  added: “My defection from APC to SDP carried the support of my constituency, and which they all supported the move in view of the intra-party crisis in APC in Kwara State as at the time of my defection.

“It is my constituency members that have the right to recall me and not any individual or group of persons in certain quarters in the state,” he added.