Edith CHUKU
The call that the seats of the 27 Rivers State House of Assembly Members who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, to the All Progressives Congress APC, be declared vacant has began to gain momentum.
This is as a High Court Sitting in Port Harcourt, on Tuesday, under the seal of Hon. Justice M.W. Danagogo confirmed Rt. Hon. Edison Ehie, as the authentic Speaker of the state House of Assembly.
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Th court also restrained Hon. Martin Amaewhule and Dumle Maol from interfering with the activities of Ehie as Speaker of the house.
It also warned against the use of thugs and Police officers to forcefully gain access into the premises of the state assembly complex.
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In reaction to this development, the legal adviser of the National Youth Council of Nigeria NYCN, Rivers State chapter, Mr. Chidozie Emem, explained that following their defection, they are no longer lawmakers in the state.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with TNN, Emem said, “By virtue of the fact that they defected to APC yesterday, settles the whole issue, for that singular reason they are not even, no longer members of Rivers State House of Assembly, owing to Section 109 of 1999 Constitution.
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“What happened today is an affirmation of what happened yesterday, they are no longer members of Rivers State House of Assembly, so it’s a welcomed development.”
The NYCN legal adviser described the defection of the 27 lawmakers who contested and won under the platform of the PDP as, “a good thing to Rivers people because our governor has to move on, there must be an end to madness and rascality.
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“Today, by virtue of the fact that they defected to APC when we don’t have any division or faction in the PDP, from state to federal, that alone has settled the whole issue because the constitution has made it clear that if you defect to another political party, you will vacate your office immediately, so that settles the matter, they are no longer members of Rivers State House of Assembly.”
Emem added that, “We only have four members of assembly and we have equally called on the INEC to immediately commence the process of election in these 27 constituencies, they are no longer members, our speaker today is Edison and the court have affirmed it today.”
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On the political crisis in the state, he said, “what is happening in Rivers State is a normal distraction, Rivers people know what they want and what they want is the governor of Rivers State, Sir Sim Fubara, he has not failed us and he is ready to deliver on his promises, so, we are comfortable with him, we will not allow the interest of one individual to destroy the entire interest of Rivers people, we will not, we are very comfortable with our governor and we will continue to support him.”
Also, a PDP faithful in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the state, Mr. Emmanuel Ovunda, who also demanded that the 27 seats of the constituencies be declared vacate, said, “honestly their seat needs to be declared vacant. This is arrant nonsense. There is no division within the party excos that will warrant them to defect to another party.
“They are all there at the Assembly with the mandate of PDP therefore abandoning the party without any rancho calls for their immediate resignations because their recent actions is a total anti-party activity.”
