Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana insists Rivers State House of Assembly members who decamped from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) have lost their positions in the lawmaking body.
Recall that the twenty five lawmakers loyal to the former governor of Rivers State and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, had switched to the APC amid the political deadlock between him and Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, Falana asserted that the lawmakers would be ousted from their seats for transitioning to the APC.
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In his words, ” Unless you can show and demonstrate that there is division in a political party that sponsored your election, you cannot remain in any legislative arm if you decamp to another party.
“The whole idea is that the constitution set out to ban political prostitution on the part of legislators.”
“It may be very difficult to persuade the court to allow them to remain in the legislative house unless they are prepared to go back to the people and have their mandate renewed by the people.
“The Supreme Court made this clear in the case of Adetunde and the Labour Party, that you cannot decamp and then remain a member of a legislative house in Nigeria unless you can show that there is a division in your party. It doesn’t mean a division in a local government or a state. It has to be on the national level. That is the position of the court,” he said.
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