LAYI OLANREWAJU, Ilorin
The Speakership tussle of the Kwara state House of Assembly has taken a new dimension as three chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC) across the three senatorial districts in the state have dragged the Clerk of the House to court seeking to compel him to abide by the Order of the House which favoured the picking of an experienced legislator as Speaker.
The suit no KWS /186/2019 between the plaintiffs namely Maroof Yusuf Olaniyi (Kwara Central), Abass Adeoti (Kwara South) and Usman Hussein (Kwara North) against the Clerk of Kwara State House of Assembly has been filed before an Ilorin High court.
This was made available to newsmen on Sunday by Barrister Seun Ijaodola the plaintiffs counsel.
The court is yet to give Assembly 2019 directives which stated that an experienced legislator should first and foremost be the Speaker.
According to the suit, the appellants are claiming for an order of the court, “mandating the defendant to abide by the Order 11 Rule 3 Sub 2 (A) of the Rules of Kwara state House of Assembly 2019, the determination of the sole question is whether or not the defendant can compromise the requirement for the appointment of the Speaker of Kwara state House of Assembly in favour of a member-elect who is not qualified by Order 11 Rule 3 Sub 2(A)of the Rules of Kwara state house of assembly.
“That the only member elect with such qualification is Saheed Popoola, the serving Honourable member representing Ojomu constituency from Offa, Kwara South.”
They are further claiming the order of the court, “that the appointment of principal members of the House of Assembly is the exclusive business of the House and not that of the political party”.
The defendants also claimed, “that because the Deputy governor-elect, the Minister of Information and Culture among other positions are from Kwara South, our party is trying to intervene in the selection of the Speaker of the Kwara state House of Assembly by ceding it to Kwara North but none of the member elect have the legislative experience required as a precondition for appointment as Speaker.”
Counsel to the plaintiffs, Barrister Seun Ijaodola in an interview told journalists that the intervention of the court became necessary in order to make the stakeholders abide by the rule of law.
He said the situation whereby all the lawmakers are entirely new cannot be considered in the present scenario because it hasn’t happened in the state.
“When we get to that scenario we can be talking about what to do but presently this is what we are contending with and the rule of law must prevail,” he stressed.
