Ikimi to Saraki, others: You’ve forfeited your seats

Warri-based human rights activist, Oghenejabor Ikimi, on Friday, averred that Senator Bukola Saraki and other members of the National Assembly who recently defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) have constitutionally forfeited their seats.

The defender of the underprivileged made this known in a signed statement made available to  Tribune Online in Warri, Delta State.

He highlighted sections of the 1999 Constitution which negate and render null and void the defection of Saraki and others from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to APC.

He opined that the defections were predicated on avarice and not the inability of their political parties to operate under the constitution.

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“My attention has been drawn to the gale of defections by some Federal and State Legislators from one political party to another.

“I make bold to say that the real reasons for all these defections are unconstitutional as they are founded on avarice rather than on the inability of their political parties to operate as a party under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended),” he enthused.

Citing relevant sections of the constitution to buttress his stance, Ikimi said: “Section 68 (1) (g) and Section 109 (1) (g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) reveals that no member of the Senate or House of Representatives or a State Legislator, whose election to the House was sponsored by a political party, can become a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected provided the membership of the latter political party is not as a result of any division such as would render ineffective the operations of the previous political party as a party under the Constitution.”

According to him, “I make bold to say that a calm reading of Sections 68 (1) (g) and 109 (1) (g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) would reveal that the above defections of the above Federal and State Legislators in our polity in the circumstance is unconstitutional as none of the major political parties where these erring Federal and State Legislators had defected are either factionalized or ineffective to operate as a political party under our Constitution.

“For the avoidance of doubt, I reproduce Section 68(1)(g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) thus:

“68(1) A member of the Senate or of the House of Representatives shall vacate his seat in the House of which he is a member if –

(g) Being a person whose election to the House 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:

“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 if a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored.”

Ikimi noted that “from the above provisions of the Constitution vis-à-vis section 109 (1) (g) that all the Federal and State Legislators that have defected from the political party that sponsored their election in the House ceases automatically to be Legislators as the scenario provided for in the proviso to Sections 68 (1) (g) and 109 (1) (g) respectively do not exist in the present circumstance.

“It is in the light of the foregoing, I call on the Federal Attorney General and the Attorneys General of the States concerned to set in motion the appropriate mechanism vide law suits to unseat these erring Federal and State Legislators in a bid to deepening our democratic values and culture as plethora of legal authorities including the Supreme Court case of ABEGUNDE VS. ONDO STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY & ORS (2015) LPELR-24588 supports my above clarion call.”

“I am not oblivious of the civic duty we owe the Nigerian nation as citizens in protecting and defending her fledgling democracy, hence my call to the Federal and States Attorneys General to unseat all erring Federal and State Legislators vide the Law courts.

“Nigerians especially her electorates must shun greedy politicians and must not allow them to truncate our democracy or turn same into a tool for seizing power illegally or to cause disunity and disaffection in our polity.

“The Nigerian electorates must resist all political mercenaries masquerading themselves as politicians by all lawfully means through the ballot box,” the human rights lawyer admonished.