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Controversy trails A’Court judgment as sacked lawmaker continue to attend sitting

He remains KWHA member - Speaker

Action illegal, unconstitutional – SAN, ex-NBA scribe

By Mumini Abdulkareem

Controversy, last night, trailed the judgement of the Appeal Court
sacking the lawmaker representing Ilorin South constituency at the
Kwara State House of Assembly, Hon Hassan Azeez Oluwanilo of the All
Progressives Congress (APC).
Penultimate Thursday, the appellate court after the nullification of
Hon Oluwanilo’s election subsequently ordered the swearing-in of the
candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Hon
Abdulraheem Agboola.
Following reports that the lawmaker despite the appellate court ruling
was still attending plenary, there have been concerns from many
citizens within and outside the state on the correct position of the
law on the matter.
According the Speaker, Hon Danladi Yakubu-Salihu, Nilo as the sacked
APC lawmaker is popularly called remains a member of the House of the
9th Kwara Assembly pending the swearing-in of the PDP lawmaker after
the presentation of the Certificate of Return (CoR) by the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He spoke through his Media Aide, Sheriff Ibrahim, last night, adding
that the House will continue to respect the rule of law.
“Consequent upon the controversy generated over reports about Hon.
Abddulazeez Hassan Elewu, member representing Ilorin South
constituency at the Kwara State House of Assembly, I will like to
state as follows;
“That Hon. Abdulazeez Hassan Elewu remains the recognised member,
representing Ilorin South constituency, as no other person, except
him, has a Certificate of Return from the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) before the Kwara State House of Assembly.
“That KWHA can only recognise any person with a certified Certificate
of Return, which the report also confirmed, is yet to be issued to
anyone else. The 9th Assembly leadership, being the custodian of the
constitution is a respecter of the rule of law and would do nothing
that contravenes the rule of law”, the statement added.
However, top legal luminaries in the state who spoke on the issue
disagreed with the position of the Speaker describing it as illegal
and unconstitutional.
According to Barr. Kehinde Kolawole Eleja (SAN), the continuous
sitting of the sacked lawmaker is pure illegality.
He said, “Well, as an individual, I have not seen the Appeal Court
judgement but based on what I have read in the media, I have reason to
believe that the Court of Appeal Ilorin affirmed the decision of the
tribunal which sacked the member representing Ilorin South as declared
by INEC and directed that his opponent be issued with Certificate of
Return.
“With that pronouncement, legally speaking, that should be the end of
the tenure of the APC candidate. From that moment on, if he sits as a
member of the House, he will be doing so illegally and it will be an
affront to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
However, the House will be entitled to refrain from swearing-in the
PDP candidate until he is able to produce the Certificate of Return
issued by INEC and once that is done, I believe there will not be any
justification to refuse to swear him in.
“So in essence, the continuous sitting of the sacked lawmaker is pure
illegality but the new person will not just walk in automatically
without the Certificate of Return duly issued by INEC”, he added.
On whether the absence of the two lawmakers at the same time will
create a vacuum for the constituency, Eleja said, “but things have to
be done properly. If the Court of Appeal has ordered that he should be
sworn-in and we all know the condition precedent for swearing-in any
duly elected person by the leadership of the legislative House is the
production of the Certificate of Return, it will not matter now
whether the constituency is duly represented now or not, the important
thing is for the person to do the needful and collect his Certificate
of Return”.
On his part, a one-time Secretary General of Ilorin NBA, Barrister
Suleiman Abaya also corroborated the position of Eleja on the issue.
According to him, “The Court of Appeal is the court of final decision
for election into the Houses of Assembly and governorship election and
therefore its judgement has automatically made the PDP candidate
authentic occupier of that seat from the minute the judgement was
given. The issue of asking for Certificate of Return or swearing-in
does not matter in this case because of the finality of the judgement
which takes effect immediately.
“Semantics apart, the hanging on to power by the APC candidate is
unconstitutional and a flagrant disobedience to the Court of Appeal
and abysmal display of lawlessness on the party of the candidate who
continue to attend proceedings the consequence of which is contempt
which can amount to him even languishing in jail. It does not also
speak well for our democracy because it portends danger of the
sanctity of the Appeal Court on the electoral matter.
“Another question/issue is that ab initio, he APC candidate was not
the rightful occupier of that seat and is not entitled to any salary.
The Speaker does not need to wait for the court or the man to
executive the judgment, he must act immediately in consonance with
best democratic practices and rule of law so that it will be seen that
justice is done. Situation like this also portends danger for the
government of the day as an ordinary man will see it as impunity. It
not an issue for INEC or the House to brew over because the sacked
lawmaker is an illegal occupant (recuiser locutor)
When contacted by last night for his reaction, Elewu simply told this
reporter on telephone “Noted”.

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