A House of Representatives Candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) for Ifelodun/Offa/Oyun Federal Constituency in Kwara State North Central Nigeria, Saheed Olamilekan Popoola, says he is rooting for the Presidential Flag-bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, due to his antecedents as a defender of democracy.
Popoola disclosed that Tinubu came to his rescue while facing torments as the Chairman of Offa Local Government Area of Kwara State when he served between 2011 and 2013.
He spoke in Ilorin while answering questions from newsmen at the 36th edition of Media Parliament of Kwara State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
The SDP House of Representatives candidate who disclosed that he has remained a committed progressive in his political sojourn, said the APC presidential candidate was the most qualified among the array of candidates in the presidential polls.
“I owe Asiwaju Bola Tinubu my allegiance and loyalty irrespective of my interest because he came to my rescue when they were tormenting me in this state. Then, I was serving as council chairman”, Popoola said.
Unholy alliance
He warned the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state against any unholy alliance with any political party in the state or the State government particularly before, during and after the 2023 general elections .
The Reps Candidate urged the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmud Yakubu to call his officials at the state level to order.
Popoola who is a two-term lawmaker of the state House of Assembly vowed that any collaboration between the state government and the electoral umpire to pervert the forthcoming polls would be resisted.
“I want to enjoin you, journalists to guide Kwara INEC because there is a rumour going round that the present government has a relationship with them and that it is likely to favour APC in Kwara.
“Also, I want to call the attention of the INEC Chairman to warn Kwara REC to desist from such activities because our people will resist any attempt to compromise the general elections in Kwara State”, he said.
Popoola, who spoke on the media parliament titled “With quality legislative, social re-engineering is possible”, described legislation as the most important aspect of governance and appealed to the electorate to vote reasonable individuals into the legislative arm for quality representation.
He also canvassed local government autonomy, saying that there would be a little challenge at the third tier of government if they received funds meant for them directly devoid of the undue interference of the state government.
Autonomy Bill
Popoola, whose seat of Ojomu/Balogun Constituency of Offa Local Government was declared vacant in the state House of Assembly, took a swipe at the lawmakers in some state Houses of Assembly for their failure to concurrently pass the autonomy bill for local government areas.
In his remarks, the state Chairman of NUJ, Abdullateef ‘Lanre Ahmed, lamented that state Houses of Assembly have continued to parade themselves as mere appendages of the executive, thus belittling the temple of lawmaking.
“What we have regrettably observed over the years is the parliament that is complicit and complacent, thus submitting its sovereignty to the executive on one hand and making mockery of itself on the other whether wittingly or unwittingly.
“In a standard democratic setting, legislative branch of government should ordinarily be the ‘Primus Inter Paris’ but reverse is the case in our clime. Even the autonomy granted the parliament, which in itself is a constitutional matter, has not deterred the inordinate quest, on the part of the executive, to subdue the legislature,” he said.
He added that if the legislature restructures and pride itself as an independent arm whose work including enactment of laws, oversight and representation, reflect the wishes and aspirations of the people, the society would get it right.
Lateefah Ibrahim
