An epic legal battle may follow the defection of five state governors from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the presidency and the ruling party are set to seek the Supreme Court’s interpretation of section 306 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) over the constitutionality or otherwise of the state chief executives’ action.

Governors Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto), and AbdulFatah Ahmed (Kwara) on Monday after a meeting with the APC and “new PDP” leaders in Abuja announced their defection to the APC.

Already, their supporters in the National Assembly are planning to follow suit.

But a presidency source told LEADERSHIP Weekend that President Goodluck Jonathan has asked some of his egg-heads under a five-man committee headed by State House counsel Jalal Alabi to consult and brief him within a week on the next line of action over the governors’ defection.

The source hinted that the PDP might go to the apex court to seek the interpretation of the relevant sections of the constitution on the matter.

“President Jonathan was disappointed over the defection, especially while the reconciliation process is still ongoing; the presidency believes what those governors did was unlawful, citing the Rotimi Amaechi vs PDP case where the Supreme Court ruled that the mandate was given to the party and not to an individual.

“But some officials have also cited the Atiku Abubakar v Federal Government case where the apex court ruled that Atiku should remain as vice president under the administration of former president Olusegun Obasanjo despite his defection to the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) as a verdict that should be scrutinised. But some believe the two cases are not the same. So, the party may be asked to seek the intervention of the judiciary on the issue.”

On political defection, Section 68(1) (109(1)) of the 1999 Constitution states that:

“A member of the Senate or House of Representatives (House of Assembly) shall vacate his seat in the House of which he is a member if-

“(g) Being a person whose election to the House was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that house was elected:

“Provided that his membership of the latter political party is not as a result of a division in the political party of which he was previously a member or of a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored.”

So, for the legislature the constitution is clear: in attempting to cross to another political party, he must prove that a division in his political party exists or a merger of that party with another or factions in the party. Even then, he cannot successfully cross over to another political party until the presiding officer of the House - Senate president, speaker of House of Representatives or speaker of a House of Assembly, as the case may be - endorses the decamping.

Section 68(2) (109(2)) states that: “The President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House of Representatives, as the case may be, shall give effect to the provisions of subsection (1) of this section, so however that the President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House of Representatives or a member shall first present evidence satisfactory to the House concerned that any of the provisions of that subsection has become applicable in respect of that member.”

Section 306 of the constitution in sub-section 1 states, “Save as otherwise provided in this section, any person who is appointed, elected or otherwise selected to any office established by this constitution may resign from that office by writing under his hand addressed to the authority or person by whom he was appointed, elected or selected.

(2) The resignation of any person from any office established by this constitution shall take effect when the writing signifying the resignation is received by the authority or person to whom it is addressed or by any person authorised by that authority or person to receive it.

(5) The notice of resignation of the governor and of the deputy governor of a state shall respectively be addressed to the Speaker of the House of Assembly and the Governor of the State.

(6) The notice of resignation of the President of the Senate and of the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall in each case be addressed to the Clerk of the National Assembly, and the notice of resignation of the Speaker of a House of Assembly shall be addressed to the Clerk of the House of Assembly of the State.

(7) The notice of resignation of a member of a legislative house shall be addressed to the president of the Senate or, as the case may require, to the Speaker of the legislative house in question.”

The presidency source further disclosed that any member of the National Assembly who defects to the APC would have his or her seat declared vacant by the PDP. “The position of the law is clear on that and this is why some of them who have been threatening to decamp have not summoned the courage to do so.

“Also, members of the National Assembly or their counterparts in the state who dare to follow these people would have their seats declared vacant. Go and read Section 306 of the constitution, it is very clear and unambiguous. This is why those who have been telling us they are going have refused to defect. Let them go ahead and do that. Their seats would be declared vacant and, within 90 days, a fresh election would be held to replace them; it is then we would know who is on ground,” he said.

Meanwhile, a PDP BoT member has asked the leadership of APC to get ready for the worse with the entrant of the five governors to its party.

When asked to react to the defection of the aggrieved chieftains, the former national officer of the ruling party said, “It is bye-bye to bad rubbish. I congratulate the PDP and I congratulate Nigerians on having the opportunity to identify politicians who are opportunists, who are not reliable and dependable. You can only know this type of people in time of crisis. Another lesson we should all learn from this show of shame is that, in Nigerian politics, anything goes and posterity will judge those who used PDP to become what they are but turned their back at the party.”

When told that the defection is an electoral fortune to the APC, he replied: “They are political pollutants and, with their presence in the APC, the party has inherited problems we have been battling with all this while. They need disinfectants to accommodate these political opportunists. Let me tell you, with what PDP has done since 1999 nationwide, it will be impossible for the APC to uproot it.”



G-5 decision binding on me – Wamakko

Meanwhile, Sokoto State governor Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, who has been silent on his colleagues’ action, yesterday said their decision was binding on him despite that he did not attend the meeting because he was in Senegal.

The governor stated this at the Government House after presenting the 2014 budget to the House of Assembly and assured the people of the state of his commitment to their well-being and security.

This, according to the governor, was the primary objective of every leader, just as he urged followers to demand accountability and good governance from their leaders at all time.

Earlier, the governor had told LEADERSHIP Weekend that he had just returned from Senegal where he presented a paper at the Africa High Level Forum.

Governor Wamakko, who optimistically affirmed that Nigeria is so blessed in many folds, said all that was needed for the nation to be on the wheels of unstoppable development was genuine leadership and sincere followers.



APC not about Buhari, me - Tinubu

Also yesterday, APC national leader and former governor of Lagos State Asiwaju Bola Tinubu said the party was not about himself and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari or any leader of the APC, but about the country and the need to rescue it from inept leadership.

In a statement, his media office said Tinubu was replying to a question about the significance of the five former PDP governors joining the APC and its implications for Nigeria.

According to the statement, Tinubu said, ‘’ The APC is not about Tinubu, Buhari or any of its leaders. It is about the country and how we can come together and work to rescue Nigeria from inept leadership. The implication is change. We want to change the way things are done by working together and investing our ideas. We must change the way we do things. Imagine from the 1960s till date. The cutlass of the 1960s cannot be used for farming now. We need leaders that can think outside the box.’’

He spoke at the 2012/2013 call-to-bar ceremony of the Nigeria Law School in Abuja.

Tinubu said Nigeria needs a democratic revolution that will unleash infrastructural development and massive industrialisation. Nigeria, he said, is blessed with talented youth whose potential must be harnessed for the development of our country. ‘’The lamentations must stop. After so many years of lamentation without action, we must lead the new resolve to rally for the change our country badly needs,’’ Tinubu said.

Tinubu condemned the posture of the government on the lingering strike by university lecturers and said, “We should be more concerned about losing more brains to the outside world. We are not in a military era. The language used shows a government out of tune with the general feelings of Nigerians.’’



PDP to Oyinlola: You are confused

In a reaction to former PDP national secretary Prince Olagunsoye Oyilola’s position that he remains the party’s scribe, his successor, Prof. Wale Oladipo, yesterday described him as “inconsistent and disoriented politically”.

Oladipo further added that Prince Oyinlola had lost all moral standing and political legitimacy as a politician within and outside Osun State.

Oyinlola, who was suspended from the mainstream PDP over anti-party activities, had in the wake of the merger of the new PDP and APC denied his defection to the opposition party.

In a press statement signed by his special assistant on special duties, Abiodun Ojo, Prof. Oladipo said Oyinlola’s political opportunism, which shocked many principled politicians, especially those who drafted him into the governorship race in 2003, “is an embarrassment to us in Osun State and to his old allies within and outside the government”.

“Being a political inconsistent is not what we are worried about; the problem is when political shamelessness is added to such reprehensible conduct,” he said.

Oladipo noted that while he had deliberately refrained from joining issues with Prince Oyinlola because of his respect for old relationship, “the recent activities of Prince Oyinlola is raising so many questions about his understanding of politics and suggesting a political disorientation of sorts”.

Power sharing: No division in Adamawa APC – zonal chairman

The interim national vice chairman (north-east) of the APC, Alhaji Umar Duhu, has debunked speculations to the effect that there is rancour in the sharing formula of offices between the various blocs in the APC in Adamawa State.

Duhu’s clarifications came on the heels of subtle complaints by some stakeholders who are speculating that he will give Governor Nyako’s camp an edge in the distribution of party offices.

He said it is baseless for anyone to start complaining of being side-lined in the scheme of things in the party as the party had not started the registration of party members let alone prepare a timetable for congresses in the country.

Duhu added that all members of the APC will be given the same opportunity in line with the resolution of the national leadership that no one should be accorded preferential treatment.



We Can’t Go Back To PDP – New PDP

And ahead of Sunday’s reconciliatory meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan, the Abubakar Baraje -led New PDP, has vowed not return to the mainstream PDP.

The faction had defected to the All APC on Tuesday.

A statement yesterday by its spokesperson, Chukwuemeka Eze, accused President Jonathan and the PDP national chairman Bamanga Tukur of forcing the faction to go ahead with its “merger” with APC.

“We have bid the sinking ship called PDP bye and there is no going back. We wish to thank President Jonathan and Alhaji Tukur for ensuring the death of PDP as prayed for by the good people of our country,” he said.

http://leadership.ng/news/301113/g-5-govs-defection-presidency-may-take-fight-supreme-court

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