….urges INEC To Conduct Fresh Elections In Affected lawmakers’constituencies.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says the seats of the 27 lawmakers elected on its platform who defected to the All Progressives Congress APC earlier on Monday are now vacant
The party therefore asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct fresh elections in the 27 state constituencies of the defected lawmakers.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary,Debo Ologunagba made this known In a press statement issued on Monday evening.
He argued that the defected lawmakers have automatically vacated their seats as stipulated in Section 109 (1) (g) of the Nigerian Constitution, which states that a member of a House of Assembly loses their seat if they join another political party before the expiration of their term.
“The seats of the 27 former lawmakers have become vacant by virtue of the provision of the Constitution,” the statement said. “Therefore, we demand that the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly immediately declare these seats vacant and that INEC conduct fresh elections to fill the vacancies.”
The statement also cautioned the former lawmakers against “parading themselves as members of the Rivers State House of Assembly,” warning that doing so “would amount to impersonation with serious criminal consequences.”
Earlier,on Monday, the 27 members of the State House of Assembly loyal to the Federal Capital Territory FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike defected to the APC citing internal wranglings in the party which has resulted in numerous court cases that have sharply divided the party making their defection unavoidable .
The 1999 constitution as amended stipulates that defection from one political party to another is permitted on the basis of division from the defectors previous political party.
An attempt to introduce a Bill compelling political office holders to vacate their seats on ground of defection was killed by the 9th National Assembly in 2022
