Following the refusal of the speaker of the Kwara state House of Assembly, Hon Yakubu Danladi, to swear in Hon. Jimoh Agboola who was declared winner of the Ilorin South State constituency election, a civil society organisation in the state, Kwara Agenda, has written to security bodies in the state.
Hon Agboola was declared winner of the 2019 election by an election petition tribunal sitting in Ilorin after sacking the candidate of the All Progressives Congress(APC), AbdulAzeez Elewu, who was initially declared winner.
After the tribunal had declared him winner, the house of Assembly under the leadership of Rt. Hon. Yakubu Danladi had refused to admit and swear him in even when the election umpire, INEC had issued him “Certificate of Return”.
The refusal, according to the group in a statement signed by its state coordinator, Yakub Haroon, could hamper democratic principles in the state.
The group which alleged that failure of the speaker to swear in Mr Agboola is in connivance with the executive arm, condemned the act of contempt of the speaker, stating that it would undermine democratic principles as reposed in the assembly.
The statement reads in part, “We want to believe the Executive arm of Government of Kwara State in connivance with House of Assembly are perpetrating this act of contempt of Court thinking they can silence the general voices of people with the use of security apparatus in the state to enforce their impunity.
“As a Civil Society Organization, we aliened with other civil society groups and all well meaning Kwarans to condemn this act of contempt of Court and total undermining of democratic principle as being exhibited by House of Assembly leadership. We therefore demand that all the security outfits in the state wade in and advise the government rightly in order to ensure:
That within 48 hours, Hon. Jimoh Abdulraheem Agboola be sworn in by the House of Assembly Speaker to commence his legislative mandate.
“By this we are passing notice to all security agencies in the state that we may be leading other Civil Society Organizations and Ilorin South People on a massive response and whatever happens during and after this notification, the House of Assembly Leadership, Executive arm of government should be held responsible.”