Defected Rivers State Lawmakers Told To Prepare For Fresh Election

Defected Rivers State Lawmakers Told To Prepare For Fresh Election

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has offered advice to the 25 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly who defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC), urging them not to be deceived but to prepare for a fresh election.

The political crisis in the state House of Assembly escalated on December 11, 2023, when 27 members defected from the ruling PDP to the APC.

Following a peace agreement signed between the state governor, Siminalayi Fubara, and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, at the behest of President Bola Tinubu on Monday, the PDP’s acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, addressed a press conference on Tuesday.

Damagum counseled the 25 lawmakers not to be misled by impracticable assurances in Abuja, emphasizing that they cannot return to the State House of Assembly without a fresh election. He pointed out that, by Section 109 (1)(g) of the Constitution, the lawmakers had vacated their seats due to defection from the PDP, leaving no respite for them.

Section 109(1)(g) states “A member of a House of Assembly shall vacate his seat in the House if: being a person whose election to the House of Assembly was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected:

It continued “Provided that his membership of the latter political party is not as a result of a division in the political party of which he was previously a member or of a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored; or (h) the Speaker of the House of Assembly receives a certificate under the hand of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission stating that the provisions of section 110 of this Constitution have been complied with in respect of the recall of the member.”

The PDP national chairman insisted that “having vacated their seats, the only option available for the former lawmakers, if they wish to return to the House of Assembly, is to seek fresh nomination and re-election on the platform of any political party of their choice in line with the provisions of the Constitution and the Electoral Act, 2022.

He said, “The former Rivers lawmakers freely and without any cause vacated their seats, being fully aware of the consequences of defection from the party upon which they were elected into the Rivers State House of Assembly without the conditions stipulated by the 1999 Constitution.

“For the avoidance of doubt, there is no division in the PDP at the national or any other level for that matter to justify the defection of the 25 former members of the Rivers State House of Assembly from the party. They therefore vacated their seats for reasons best known to them and cannot return to the House of Assembly without passing through a fresh electoral process in accordance with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the Electoral Act, 2022.

“Moreover, the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Ehie Edison, officially declared the seats of the defected now former members vacant in line with Section 109 (1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution.

“The Rivers State House of Assembly, having become functus officio on the matter cannot re-admit the former lawmakers unless through the channel of a fresh election.

“Our party, therefore, counsels the former members of the Rivers State House of Assembly not to be deceived by anybody giving them the false hope and impracticable assurances in Abuja that they can return to the Rivers State House of Assembly without a fresh election or that the Independent National Electoral Commission can be stopped from conducting fresh election into the 25 Rivers State Constituencies where vacancies have occurred because of their defection.”

Damagum emphasized that Section 84 (15) of the Electoral Act, 2022 clearly states that no court has the authority to prevent the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from conducting elections whenever a vacancy occurs in any electoral constituency.

In accordance with Section 109 (1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Section 84 (15) of the Electoral Act, 2022, he urged INEC to schedule a date for the conduct of a fresh election into the 25 State Constituencies in Rivers State where vacancies have arisen due to defection.