The Kwara State House of Assembly vacates the seats of Saba Yisa Gideon and Olusola Odetundun after their defection from APC to PDP, invoking constitutional provisions as the PDP condemns the move as politically motivated.
Ilorin, Kwara State — September, 2026
The Kwara State House of Assembly has declared vacant the seats of two lawmakers, Hon. Saba Yisa Gideon of Edu State Constituency and Hon. Olusola Odetundun of Irepodun State Constituency, after both defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), triggering a fresh political confrontation in the state.
The move followed a letter from Kwara APC State Chairman, Prince Sunday Fagbemi, to Assembly Speaker Rt. Hon. Yakubu Danladi Salihu, requesting that the seats be vacated in accordance with Section 109(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
Fagbemi argued that Gideon and Odetundun had been elected on the APC platform and subsequently defected without any qualifying division or factional crisis within the party that would justify the move under constitutional exceptions.
Leading debate on the floor, House Leader Hon. Abdulkadir Oba Magaji said the issue was straightforward under Section 109(1)(g), noting that both lawmakers had gone further by securing PDP tickets to contest the 2027 rerun elections in their respective constituencies, a detail he said made their defection more constitutionally significant.
Other lawmakers, including Abolarin Ganiyu Gabriel, Ganiyu Folabi, and Adato Oguniyi, backed the motion, after which Speaker Danladi Salihu formally declared both seats vacant.
The Kwara PDP has rejected the Assembly's action, with Publicity Secretary Olusegun Olusola Adewara describing it as politically motivated and unconstitutional, alleging the lawmakers were being punished for exercising their constitutional right to freely associate. The party has questioned the procedure used and called for an immediate reversal.
The President of Orisun Igbomina, Chief Gbenga Awoyale, has urged caution, warning that the decision could deepen an already sensitive political dispute in the state. While acknowledging that constitutional provisions governing lawmaker defections should be respected, he cautioned against applying them in ways that could further inflame political tensions ahead of Kwara's 2027 electoral cycle.
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