The 25 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly who left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to join the All Progressives Congress (APC) have received advice from the PDP to get ready for a new election.
The PDP, while maintaining that their seats remain vacant, advised the lawmakers not to be misled by the resolution mediated by President Bola Tinubu which gave a soft landing for their return to the State House of Assembly.
It would be Recalled that On Monday, through e truce brokered by President Bola Tinubu, the state governor, Siminalayi Fubara, signed an eight-point peace agreement with his predecessor and Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, to end the political crisis in the state.
Following the PDP emergency National Working Committee meeting on Tuesday, Umar Damagum, the acting National Chairman of the party, addressed a press conference and warned the 25 lawmakers not to be fooled by anyone who offered unrealistic guarantees in Abuja that they could retake their seats at the State House of Assembly without holding new elections.
According to Damagum, there will be no reprieve for the lawmakers who resigned from the PDP, in accordance with Section 109 (1)(g) of the Constitution.
He said, “The 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, Ehie Edison, officially declared the seats of the defected now former members vacant in line with Section 109 (1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution.
“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 can be stopped from conducting fresh election into the 25 Rivers State Constituencies where vacancies have occurred because of their defection.”
Damagum noted that Section 84 (15) of the Electoral Act, 2022 is clear in providing that no courts have powers to stop INEC from conducting elections wherever and whenever a vacancy occurs in any electoral constituency.
He demanded that INEC should, in line with Section 109 (1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Section 84 (15) of the Electoral Act, 2022, fix a date for the conduct of a fresh election into the 25 State Constituencies in Rivers State where vacancies have occurred because of the defection.
