By  OLA AJAYI

IBADAN—A Federal High Court in Ibadan has ordered that eight constituencies should be added to the 32 seats of the Oyo State House of Assembly bringing the number of seats to 40.

Justice Abimbola Obaseki-Adejumo who gave the order, said the restoration of the constituencies and that election into the constituencies should be held within the next 90 days.

The Attorney General of the state had instituted a suit against the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, asking the court to add the eight constituencies.

The eight constituencies which the court ordered to be restored are Ibadan North 3, Ibarapa South West 3, Ibarapa Central 4, Irepo, Itesiwaju, Oyo East, Saki East and Surulere.

In the suit marked FHC/IB/CS/39/2012, the court held that by virtue of the mandatory provisions of Sections 91 and 112 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, Oyo House of Assembly’s constituencies were inadequate.

Mr. Babatunde Aiku, SAN, who represented the state government had prayed the court to restore the constituencies.

The court held that by those provisions of the constitution, the House was to consist of three or four times the number of seats the state has in the House of Representatives.
According to the judge, by a community reading of the constitution, Oyo House of Assembly, as constituted at present, was not up to three or four times the number of seats the state has in the House of Representatives which she said was a breach of the provision of the constitution.

Reacting to the ruling, the spokesperson of INEC in the state, Mr. Ayodele Folami said, “judgment of this nature is normally forwarded to the headquarters and it is only the headquarters that can react to it. They will study the judgment and take the necessary steps and this would definitely follow the trend and procedures.”