House of Assembly Declares Lawmaker’s Seat Vacant, Gives Reason
- Kwara state House of Assembly has declared the seat of a member elected under the All Progressives Congress (APC) vacant
- This followed the resignation of Saheed Popoola, a lawmaker from APC to the Social Democratic Party (SDP)
- The speaker of the House, Yakubu Danladi made the announcement on Thursday, March 31, during the plenary session
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Saheed Popoola, a lawmaker of the Kwara state House of Assembly has resigned as a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Premium Times reported.
This led the legislative body in the state to declare his seat vacant during the plenary attended by lawmakers of the House on Thursday, March 31.
Source: Twitter
Popoola, representing the Ojomu/Balogun Constituency of Offa local government area ought to have vacated his seat
Yakubu Danladi, the speaker of the House, announced the development during the plenary session of the House.
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According to him, the declaration aligned with Section 109 (1) G of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria as amended.
In another report by Nigerian Tribune, Popoola defected from the ruling APC on whose platform he was elected, to the Social Democratic Party (SDP) about two weeks ago.
The speaker explained that there was no basis for the lawmaker to dump APC for another party since there is no division in the political party of which the lawmaker was elected on.
However, in his reaction to the decision, Popoola said only the court can declare his seat vacant. He added that the House acted in disobedience of an order he had earlier secured from the State High Court to stop the move against him.
Court sacks lawmakers
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that on Monday, March 21, the court again sacked 20 lawmakers who followed Governor Ben Ayade of Cross Rivers State from the PDP to the APC.
Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja sacked the lawmakers. This followed a suit filed by the PDP to challenge the lawmakers’ defection.
The judge dismissed all the preliminary objections raised by the lawmakers who have now lost their seats.
According to the judge, there was no justification for defecting to the APC from the PDP in the first place considering that all lawmakers were having good time in the crisis-free PDP at the time.
Source: Legit.ng
