Date: 2019-12-15

Kwara State branch of the Peoples Democratic Party has sought the intervention of the Nigeria Governors' Forum in the crisis rocking the state House of Assembly over an Appeal Court's judgment that affirmed the PDP's Jimoh Agboola as winner of the Ilorin South constituency election.

The PDP at a press conference on Saturday, appealed to NGF to compel the state governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, to follow democratic norms and values in resolving the imbroglio.

The leadership of the state House of Assembly has allegedly refused to allow winner of the Court of Appeal judgment, Abdulraheem Agboola, into the assembly for swearing in and documentation since he got the judgment two weeks ago.

The appellate court had declared Agboola of the PDP as the winner of the Ilorin South constituency’s House of Assembly election in the March 10, 2019 election and was subsequently issued a certificate of return by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The All Progressives Congress in the state had approached the Federal High Court claiming that its elected candidate, Hassan Abdulazeez, was not the one taken to the election petitions tribunal by the PDP.

Addressing a press conference in Ilorin, state chairman of the PDP, Mr Kola Shittu, described the alleged refusal of the state House of Assembly to swear in Agboola as abuse of power and disregard for rule of law, calling on the leader of the NGF, Governor Kayode Fayemi, to intervene.

"We call on INEC, security agencies, local and international NGOs to call out the governor of Kwara State and the House of Assembly to urgently retract their undemocratic stand and steps, by quickly admitting and allowing democracy and justice to thrive in this instance. A word, they say, is enough for the wise", he said.

Shittu faulted the claim of the chairman, House Committee on Information, Culture and Tourism, Awolola Ayokunle, which said the House was served a court summon joining the Speaker and Clerk to the House, a motion on notice, filed in the Federal High Court by Hassan Abdulazeez, seeking to refrain the House from swearing in Agboola pending determination of the case.

He said the reason given by the legislature for not swearing in the PDP lawmaker was amusing and laughable, adding that the Court of Appeal is the final arbiter for all litigations arising from national and state assembly elections.