The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and a Lagos-based senior lawyer, Mr Femi Falana, have apparently rejected the truce brokered by President Bola Tinubu between the governor of Rivers State, Mr Siminalayi Fubara and his estranged predecessor cum godfather, Mr Nyesom Wike, now minister of the Federal Capital Territory.
Fubara and Wike are logged in a political war that led to the attack on and eventual demolition of the state house of assembly, impeachment threat on the governor, defection of 27 PDP lawmakers to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on the instruction of Wike, and resignation of nine commissioners whom the former governor hand picked for his predecessor.
To find a solution to the crisis, parties to the conflict met in the presidential villa, Abuja on Monday at the instance of the president and resolved as follows: “All matters instituted in the courts by the Governor of Rivers State, Sir Fubara, and his team, in respect of the political crisis in Rivers State, shall be withdrawn immediately.
“All impeachment proceedings initiated against the Governor of Rivers State by the Rivers State House of Assembly should be dropped immediately.
“The leadership of the Rivers State House of Assembly as led by the Rt. Hon. Martin Amaewhule shall be recognised alongside the 27 members who resigned from the PDP.
“The remunerations and benefits of all members of the Rivers State House of Assembly and their staff must be reinstated immediately and the Governor of Rivers State shall henceforth not interfere with the full funding of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
“The Rivers State House of Assembly shall choose where they want to sit and conduct their legislative business without interference and/or hindrance from the executive arm of government.
“The Governor of Rivers State, Sir Fubara, shall re-present the state budget to a properly constituted Rivers State House of Assembly.
“The names of all commissioners in the Rivers State Executive Council who resigned their appointments because of the political crisis in the State should be resubmitted to the House of Assembly for approval.
“There should not be a caretaker committee for the local governments in Rivers State. The dissolution of the Local Government administration is null and void and shall not be recognised.”
In his reaction, the acting national chairman of the PDP, Mr Umar Damagum, said in a statement that despite the president’s mediation, there is no remedy for the party’s 27 lawmakers of the state house of assembly members who recently decamped to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Recall that the legislators defected to the APC on December 11, but two were said to have made returned to the PDP after announcing their exit.
Damagum gave a condition that should the erring lawmakers desire to return to the house, they would have to do so through electoral process.
“Our party insists that having now vacated and lost 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 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and the Electoral Act, 2022.
“The 25 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 Rt. Hon (Barr) Ehie O. Edison DSSRS officially declared the seat of the defected now former members vacant in line with Section 109 (1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). 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 (INEC) can be stopped from conducting fresh election into the 25 Rivers State Constituencies where vacancies have occurred by reason of their defection.
“The national leadership of the PDP charges all members of our great Party in Rivers State to remain united and resolute in the defence of Constitutional democracy and Rule of Law in Rivers State,” Damagum said.
Similarly, Falana said the presidential reinstatement of the 27 lawmakers is alien to the Nigerian Constitution.
He contended that the president has no constitutional role in resolving the political in Rivers State, therefore his “intervention is purely advisory.”
He contended that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is mandatorily required to conduct the by-election once the ex parte order was issued by the Federal High Court.
Falana said the seats of the cross-carpeting members have been declared vacant by the Speaker known to law. He cited the case of Abegunde v Labour Party (2015) LPELR 24588 (SC), which the Supreme Court held that a legislator, who abandoned the political party that sponsored him and defected to another political party, has automatically lost his seat in parliament.
“The seats of the cross carpeting members have been declared vacant by the Speaker known to law. To that extent, the Independent National Electoral Commission is mandatorily required to conduct the by-election once the ex parte order issued by the Federal High Court last Friday is quashed.”
Falana noted that the 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly who defected from the PDP to the APC had lost their seats, “because the PDP that sponsored them is not factionalised or divided as stipulated by the Constitution.
“The cross-carpeting legislator can only retain his seat if he can prove that the political party that sponsored him is divided into two or more factions. The 27 members of the Rivers Assembly, who decamped from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to All Progressives Congress (APC), have lost their seats because the PDP that sponsored them is not factionalised or divided as stipulated by the Constitution.
“Even if all the cases in the Rivers State High Court and the Federal High Court are withdrawn in line with the advice of the President, it is submitted that all actions taken by the Speaker recognised by the Rivers State High Court, remain valid, including his pronouncement on the vacant seats of the 27 cross-carpeting members of the House.
“In other words, only a court of law is constitutionally competent to set aside the pronouncement of the Speaker, which is anchored on Section 109 of the Constitution. Furthermore, as the Speaker has not been removed by the required number of legislators, a presidential directive cannot remove him,” Falana said.
