By Mumini Abdulkareem
The only re-elected member of the Kwara State House of Assembly, Hon Saheed Popoola may replace Dr Ali Ahmad as the Speaker when the 9th legislature is constituted in June 9, 2019.
Popoola, representing Balogun/Ojomu constituency of Offa Local Government Area is the only lawmaker who remained in the All Progressives Congress (APC) when 23 others defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) sometimes last year.
After the March 9 Governorship and House of Assembly election, he was the only lawmaker that was returned.
It was learnt that the issue of who will become the 9th Speaker is already being discussed at the highest level of the party with interest from the various blocs and leaders in the APC.
According to findings last night, Popoola is very much positioned to emerge as the next Speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly for a number of factors.
A source who confided in this medium, said the lawmaker is the only member of the House that has experience in governance among the newly elected members of the APC across boards.
“Saheed is the only person that has required experience to pilot the affairs of the House at this material time.
“He was a former local government chairman, one time commissioner and now a ranking lawmaker with experience which most of those coming in now across boards in the APC lack. “It will be very dangerous politically to thrust the position on anybody else from the APC because of the peculiarity of the situation. The House of Assembly is a key arm of the state government and an experienced person is needed to pilot it and complement the efforts of the incoming executive to really provide the expected good governance to the people”, the source added.
Asked about the alleged grievance of Kwara North who are reportedly agitating for the position, the source said “Our brothers in Kwara North will understand and the party can discuss how best to pacify them through patronage. Agreed that with Popoola as the Speaker, Kwara South will still have the position of the Deputy Governor among other things, but this is about doing the right thing for the benefit of the party, the people and the state.
A lawmaker who spoke on the issue from the PDP in the state said that the choice of Popoola is the right thing to do if the party really wants to get it right for the first time.
The legislator who said although the issue is likely going to be an internal affair of the APC, added that appointing somebody with no previous experience in lawmaking might be detrimental even to the state.
“Whether I am a member of the APC or not, we all want good governance in Kwara and a right step towards achieving that is to have an experienced person as the Speaker of the House. With the local government autonomy that we have passed through the unquantifiable efforts of the Speaker, Dr Ali Ahmad, the incoming APC legislators already have a strong and sound footing to stand on”.
Reacting to the issue, the Publicity Secretary of the party, Alhaji Tajudeen Aro told National Pilot in a telephone chat that the party was yet to make a pronouncement on the issue, adding that the state chapter will go in line with whatever the national body decides on the issue.
“We will align with the party and go in line with whatever the national body agree on the issue of Speaker of the incoming assembly”, he divulged.
