By Dare Akogun

THE seat of the lawmaker representing Edu Constituency, Ndanusa Guyegi, has been declared vacant by the Kwara State House of Assembly over his defection to the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

The development followed a debate after a letter he addressed to the House, titled, ‘Notice of Defection from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to Social Democratic Party (SDP)’ was read by the Speaker Yakubu Salihu at plenary on Wednesday.

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Deputy Speaker Raphael Adetiba and House Leader Abubakar Olawoyin Mogaji in their separate contributions argued that Guyegi ceased to be a member of the House as a result of his defection from the party that sponsored his election in line with Section 109 (G) of the 1999 Constitution.

In the letter of defection, Guyegi said his decision to defect to the SDP was informed by division at the state and national levels of the APC.

Guyegi recalled that there was a pending case on the leadership of the APC in the state which culminated into running of the party with two secretariats and chairmen until recently when a faction opted to join the SDP.

He noted that the prolonged division has affected the APC to the extent that his political ambition was no longer assured and guaranteed in the party.

But the House, which has a majority of APC members, reacted by declaring his seat vacant.

In another development the Kwara State Government has requested to reallocate at least N4.4 billion out of N7 billion earlier allotted to agro-processing in the bond to infrastructural projects in the state.

The request was made in a letter from Governor AbdulRaman AbdulRazaq which was addressed to the Speaker of the House of Assembly and read during plenary on Wednesday.

The governor in the letter said the State Executive Council approved a request to seek virement to commit more funds to road projects in the N27 billion accessed from the N37 billion approved by the House in 2021.

The governor pointed that the bond is strictly regulated for the sake of accountability and review of any amounts allocated to each projects listed in the bond must follow due process, including cabinet and parliamentary approval which must then be green-lighted by the bond issuers.

The Speaker thereafter directed the Clerk of the House Haleemah Kperogi to invite the Commissioner for Finance and Planning, Florence Oyeyemi, and the Commissioner for Works and Transport, Rotimi Iliasu, to shed more light on the proposed fund reallocation.