Kwara North Senate Seat: Rotimi Iliasu Slams Kolo Jiyya, PDP With Lawsuit Over Illegal Name Substitution 

The battle for the Kwara North PDP Senate nomination has taken a dramatic legal turn as former Commissioner for Works, Hon Rotimi Iliasu, who had about five months ago emerged as Senate candidate, slammed his party, PDP, his replacement, Mr Kolo Baba Jiya and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with a lawsuit on Sunday.

In the suit filed at the Federal High Court,  Ilorin with docket number  FHC/IL/CS/136/2025,  Hon Rotimi Suleiman is challenging what he described as an unauthorized and unconstitutional substitution of his name with that of Mr  Kolo Baba Jiya.

Suleiman claimed that he had emerged as the winner of the Kwara North PDP senate primary election held on May 20, 2026, and INEC had consequently published his name on August 1, 2026, as the recognized PDP senate candidate ahead of the  2027 general election.

He expressed surprise that INEC took a decision to publish Kolo’s name as the new senate candidate on September 12, 2026.

Suleiman described this as a flagrant violation of the Electoral Act, 2026 submitting that a candidate’s name cannot be substituted without his or her explicit written consent and signature, neither of which he had provided.

Consequently, he is seeking a declaration from the Federal High Court that the substitution of his name with that of Kolo is unlawful, illegal, null, and void. He is also asking the court to affirm him as the rightful and validly nominated PDP candidate for the Kwara North Senatorial District.

Furthermore, Suleiman has asked the court to issue an order restraining INEC, its officials, agents, and representatives from recognizing Kolo Baba Jiya as the PDP candidate, pending the final determination of the substantive suit.

In a telephone interview with Team@orientactualmags.com on Sunday evening, Hon Rotimi Iliasu confirmed that he took the legal action in question.

Asked if filing of the lawsuit was a preemptive action cognizant that INEC had only published the names and details of reps and Senate candidates on Saturday and his exclusion from the list had apparently made him sue his party, PDP and Kolo, he responded that in matters that have to do with elections, lawsuits can be filed during the weekend which is what he has done-Team@orientactualmags.com  Do you have any information you wish to share with us? Do you want us to cover your event or programme? Kindly send SMS to 08035023079,  08059100286, 09094171980 or get in touch via orientactualmag@gmail.com.  Thank you