…lawmaker reacts
By Rukayat Abdulahi
The Kwara State House of Assembly has declared the seat of the honourable representing Ojomu/Balogun State constituency, Hon Saheed Popoola, vacant following his defection from the All Progressives Congress to Social Democratic Party, SDP.
The decision was taken during plenary on Thursday, The Informant247 gathered.
According to a source who spoke to The Informant247 on condition of anonymity, he said the Speaker of the House, RT. Hon Yakubu Salihu Danladi, who presided over the plenary, said the decision of the House followed a letter from the APC informing of the lawmaker’s defection from the party.
He said, “He was removed for defecting to another party. We got a letter from his new party and this prompted us to declare his seat vacant since he has left the party where he was elected.
“I think he knew that we will be removing him today and he went to court to get an injunction restraining us from doing so, but before they could submit it, the decision had already been passed. We have sent a letter to INEC already.”
When contacted by The Informant247, Popoola said the house doesn’t have the constitutional right to remove him.
He said, “They don’t have the constitutional right to remove me. I got an injunction from court retraining them from doing that already. Despite that, they still went ahead. It’s now left to them and the court.”
Popoola have been having a frosty relationship with other members of the APC in Assembly since fights broke out between Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed in Kwara state. Popoola was the only assembly member who belongs to Lai Mohammed camp.
The Informant247 was however not able to get reactions from the House Information department as at the time of filing this report.
