16.Sep.2014 Yinka Oladoyinbo - Akure

THE Court of Appeal sitting in Akure, the Ondo State
capital, on Monday, sacked the member of the House
of Representatives, Mr Ifedayo Sunday Abegunde
representing Akure South and North federal
constituency from the National Assembly. The court declared the seat of the only All
Progressives Congress (APC) vacant following his
defection from Labour Party (LP) on which platform he
was elected. The appellate court ruled that Abegunde did not
adhere to the constitutional process of defecting from
one party to another. Abegunde popularly known as Abena had defected
from the ruling LP to rival APC because of an alleged
division in the party. However, apparently wanting to prevent his recall
from the House of Representatives, Abegunde
through his lawyer, Mr Yemi Osinbajo, sought the
protection of the Federal High Court. He asked the court to pronounce that the division
within the LP facilitated his defection to the APC. In his originating summons, Abegunde wanted the
court to determine whether or not in view of the
provisions of section 68(1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution
of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, he is
not entitled to dump the LP to another party. However, the State Attorney General and
Commissioner for Justice, Mr Eyitayo Jegede, filed a
counter-claim among others claiming that he should
automatically vacate the seat having left the LP that
sponsored him into the National Assembly. The lower court however ruled that Abegunde was
wrong to have defected from LP to the then Action
Congress of Nigeria (AC) thereby declared the seat
vacant following which the appellant approached the
appeal court to upturn the decision of the lower court. After the exchange of briefs and written addresses by
the plaintiff and defendants, the appeal court
dismissed the appeal filed by the lawmaker and
upheld the verdict of the lower court. Aside from setting aside the written address of the
lawmaker, the presiding judge said the appellant had
violated section 68 (1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution and
should therefore vacate his seat.


the tribune

they will still blame it on GEJ

it makes no sence...............because he has only just few months to the constitutional expiration of tenure of office,

Apc gathering where they did not sow

.

. . . . and the djandjaweeds keep crumbling.