The Court of Appeal sitting in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, Wednesday declared that the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate, Jimoh Raheem Agboola, was the winner of the March 9 poll.
It sacked the All Progressives Congress (APC) member representing Ilorin South Constituency, Hassan Azeez Oluwanilo, from the House of Assembly.
Justice Hamman Barkar Hkawu, who delivered the judgement, hinged the court’s decision on the disputed APC primaries, which produced Alhaji Suleiman Abdulsalam, popularly called Sule Cement.
The court heard that he was later replaced with 28-year-old Oluwanilo, a development it said was in violation of the provision of the law.
Accordingly, the court held that the APC had no valid candidate for the 2019 House of Assembly election and thereby declared the PDP candidate with the second highest votes, Agboola, as the winner of the poll.
Already, the Kwara state governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, has congratulated Agboola on the Appeal Court judgment.
The governor, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Rafiu Ajakaye, said: “What has happened today is one of the beauties of democracy. As respecters of the rule of law and decorum, we submit to the position of their Lordships and congratulate our brother from the opposition party.”
