Ime Akpan
A Federal High Court in Abuja has struck out the suit filed by Legal Defence and Assistant Project (LEDAP) challenging the defection of the senate president, Dr. Bukola Saraki, the speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, the former senate minority leader, Mr. Godswill Akpabio and 51 other lawmakers from the parties that sponsored them.
The plaintiff had asked the court to declare the legislators’ seat, comprising of 17 senators and 37 House of Reps members vacant arguing that their defection was in violation of section 68 of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
The defendants in the suit included both members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
In his ruling on Friday, Justice Okon Abang held that despite the plaintiff’s noble intention, his court lacked the jurisdiction to determine the merit of its claims in the case.
According to Abang, though LEDAP is a registered corporate body under the Company and Allied Matters Act, it does not have the right to sue on behalf of the public.
However, he held that the defendants, except Akpabio, acted in breach of the constitution by dumping political parties that sponsored them.
He explained that there was no division of the kind recognised by the Supreme Court to allow the defendant, that is the senate president and 53 others retain their seat with the exception of the third defendant, Akpabio.
He said this is so because in his view, at the time they claimed there was division in their parties which resulted in their decamping, those political parties were still functioning, hence the division was not of the kind that will enable them decamp.
Nevertheless, Justice Abang noted that neither the APC nor the PDP was joined as a party in the suit.
He held that though the plaintiff presented a very good case, it, however, failed to prove how the defection of the lawmakers affected its rights and obligations, above that of the general public.
He said the matter could not be classified as a public interest litigation suit since the plaintiff did not secure a formal authorisation from the attorney general of the federation to institute the action against the lawmakers.
In Akpabio’s case, the judge held that there was evidence before the court that he joined the APC after he was expelled by the PDP.
He held that having been expelled, Akpabio was no longer a member of any political party as at the time he “moved” to the APC to exercise his constitutional right under section 40 of the constitution.
