Human rights lawyer Femi Falana maintains that members of the Rivers State House of Assembly who switched allegiance from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress have forfeited their legislative positions.
Twenty-five lawmakers aligned with former Governor Nyesom Wike transitioned to the APC amid political tensions between him and Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
Falana emphasized on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics that the lawmakers would lose their seats for defecting to the APC. Referring to the constitution, he stated, “Unless you can prove a division within the sponsoring political party, defection to another party results in forfeiture of legislative position.”
He added, “The constitution aims to prevent political opportunism among legislators.”
Falana pointed out a court order restraining the 25 lawmakers from serving as legislators in the state and prohibiting the speaker from assuming his role.
“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.
The crisis between Fubara and his godfather, Wike, started last year when the Assembly, predominantly composed of Wike’s loyalists, made attempts to impeach the governor.
Subsequently, 27 lawmakers aligned with Wike defected from the ruling PDP in the state to the APC.
Led by Martin Amaewhule, the lawmakers cited internal division within the PDP as the principal motive for their transition to the APC.
