Members of the G-60 in the House of Representatives and the Coalition for Justice and Accountability (CJA) on Monday night called for the intervention of the National Judicial Council (NJC) over the purported judgement on the reinstatement of the 27 members of River State House of Assembly whose seats were declared vacant by a competent court.
Spokesman of G-60, Hon. Ikenga Ugochinyere, who gave the charge while reacting to the controversial ruling in Abuja, however, called on River State citizens to maintain their stand.
While noting that the sacked lawmakers are bound by the affidavit deposed to at the Federal High Court, he urged their sponsors to find another job for their allies rather than fighting a lost battle.
He said: “It is our firm belief that the 27 seats are still vacant and the people of River State should not shift their ground on the issue. Oke Jombo is still the legitimate Speaker of the River State House of Assembly and the seats of these lawmakers have been declared vacant. So the act is already completed, the seats have been declared vacant a long time ago.”
Ugochinyere maintained that the seats of the 27 members of the River State House of Assembly have long been declared vacant, hence they are no longer lawmakers.
“Their seats have been declared vacant and also backed by subsisting order of a competent court and the only way they can become lawmakers is if INEC conduct by-election to fill these vacancies.
“So, people should disregard the purported news of their reinstatement. And it’s so painful that these are people who have decamped from the Peoples Democratic Party to the APC. Suddenly, now they are running back to say we are back to the PDP.
“But Nigerians know that there is a file at the Federal High Court where these people sworn an affidavit at the Federal High Court that they left PDP because of the so-called imaginary decision that is not even existing anywhere in PDP.
“So, it’s so surprising that they are saying court somewhere is now saying that they are still PDP members even when the Judge is truly aware that there’s an affidavit backing up their decampment.
“And not only that, the subject matter before the court has nothing to do with the PDP membership, so it’s so strange to us how the court arrived at importing that strange aspect into the purported judgement that they are branding about.
“Let’s say this clearly that, it is widely known that the 27 lawmakers publicly decamped to APC. And at various times deposed to affidavits at the federal high court in suit No: FHA/FHC/ABJ/1681/CS/2023 that they are now members of APC owing to the crisis in PDP.
“So, the position of the law in this respect is very clear that once a member of a political party in the parliament defects to another party when no crisis exist in the political party, such a seat is declared vacant.
“So, their act is a completed act and the leadership of the House of Assembly of River State has done the needful and it’s no longer an issue that their seats have since been vacant.
“So, we are calling on NJC to once again note that some of these judicial officers are not backing down in their quest to satisfy the taste bud of the political allies and keeping a blind eye to already existing legal pronouncement on issue submitted before them thereby sitting on appeal on judgement of court of cognate jurisdiction.
“It is our firm belief that the 27 seats are still vacant. These filings have been made at the federal high court by these 27 lawmakers who have left PDP, so how can now suddenly said there is a judge that members of PDP that sworn affidavit before a court of competent jurisdiction that they are no longer.”
He therefore urged the embattled lawmakers to “go and check the Votes and Proceedings of the River State House of Assembly, stressing that there is no issue bothering on their legitimacy.”
He maintained that the G60 still stand strongly that these seats are vacant and that court of competent jurisdiction has declared the seats vacant, adding that a valid Speaker has been elected to take charge of the affairs of the Assembly.
He emphasised that the former lawmakers’ vacant seats have been ratified by the River State House of Assembly and that they are bound by the affidavit they willingly sworn to at the Federal High Court.
Hon. Ugochinyere further observed that “it’s so strange that they can come back this evening to say they are members of the Peoples Democratic Party just because they are desperately trying to do the unthinkable which is no longer possible.
