- Ajibade said while the intervention of President Bola Tinubu in the dispute between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike is appreciated, it cannot stand in the way of constitutional provisions about defection.
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has maintained that the seats of 26 Rivers House of Assembly lawmakers who dumped the party for the All Progressives Congress, APC, remain vacant.
The PDP National Legal Adviser, Adeyemi Ajibade (SAN), said the defecting lawmakers are no longer members of the state legislature.
Ajibade said this while addressing newsmen shortly after Justice Donatus Okorowo of a Federal High Court, Abuja, adjourned the embattled lawmakers’ suit until January 24, 2024.
Ajibade said while the intervention of President Bola Tinubu in the dispute between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike is appreciated, it cannot stand in the way of constitutional provisions about defection.
He said: “PDP as a party; we are standing on the side of the constitution of the country. It is not about issues of an agreement but by the Constitution, we all sworn to uphold.
“The governor himself swore to uphold the constitution likewise the President.
“I am not against the president calling for the resolution of the matter. He is the chief security officer of this country and he has every right to intervene in the issue.
“But besides that, we, as a political party; the PDP owns those seats and certainly we are interested in those seats.
“Whatever the governor is doing in this matter, no resolution has been brought to Wadata Plaza on this matter.
“However, as a political party, we cannot leave the seats and the votes willingly given to the party by people of Rivers State.”
According to the senior lawyer, aside from that, the constitution of the country is very clear; Section 109 (1g) is clear as to issues of detection.
He said the affected lawmakers had not denied that they defected.
“Even if you pick the writ of summon that was filed before this court, they said they actually defected.
“So they are only stating while they defected; that they have the right to defect based on the reasons given by them.
“So it is not an issue as to whether there was a defection or not. And we cannot fold our hands. So we have to go to recover our seats,” he said.
Ajibade, who said they had challenged the jurisdiction of the court to hear the suit, said if the court ruled that it had jurisdiction, PDP would appeal it.
“If at the end of the day, this court decided to maintain and insists that it has jurisdiction, then we will do the needful.
“We will study the ruling and if possible, we have a higher court,” he said.
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