The 25 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly who left the party to join the All Progressives Congress have received advice from the Peoples Democratic Party to not be misled and to get ready for a new election.
According to The PUNCH, on December 11, 2023, 27 members of the state Assembly’s ruling PDP switched to the APC, throwing the assembly into disarray.
In an effort to resolve the political impasse in the state, Siminalayi Fubara, the governor of the state, and Nyesom Wike, the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, signed an eight-point peace pact on Monday at the request of President Bola Tinubu.
During a press conference held on Tuesday following the PDP emergency National Working Committee meeting, Umar Damagum, the acting National Chairman of the party, advised the 25 lawmakers not to be fooled by anyone who offers unrealistic guarantees in Abuja that they can reenter the State House of Assembly without holding new elections.
No relief will be granted, according to Damagum, to the legislators who resigned from the PDP in accordance with Section 109 (1)(g) of the Constitution.
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.”
