Lawyers in the house, please let us know your view about the recent statement credited to PDP in declaring the seat of the VP vacant. In 1999 Constitution, only section 143 talks about the removal of President and Vice- President. Your view pls. so that we can move this great country forward.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/southwest/sw322122006.html

[b]Under Section 142 sub-sections (1) and (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, he must be of the same political party with the President for him to be elected with the President.
“He has torn asunder that platform thereby violating Section 142 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 by moving from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to Action Congress (AC).

“This can be a reason for him to vacate his office as Vice President within the provision of Section 146 subsection (3)(c) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and in that respect the President will be justified to nominate another person to be appointed the Vice President with the approval of the National Assembly.

“For ease of reference, I refer to Section 146(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and I emphasise subsection (3)(c) as follows:
“146 (3) Where the office of Vice-President becomes vacant —

(A) by reason of death or resignation, impeachment, permanent incapacity or removal in accordance with section 143 or 144 of this Constitution;

(b) by his assumption of the office of President in accordance with subsection (1) of this section; or

(c) for any other reason.”
“It is my view that the Vice President has lost his office by his declaration for Action Congress (AC) and he should vacate that office to enable a new Vice President to be appointed.”[/b]

http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/cover/december06/22122006/f322122006.html
[b]“Well, Atiku is finished. He has finally fallen into the trap. The PDP is going to expel him and ask the president to immediately nominate another VP, because he was sponsored to that position by the PDP and now he has abandoned it,” the source said, adding: “The presidency is to argue that he has contravened section 142 of the constitution. And the only thing Atiku can do is to go to court, which may take time before the issue is addressed,” said the source.

Section 142 (1) says: “In any election to which the forgoing provisions of this part of this chapter relate, a candidate for an election to the office of president shall not be deemed to be validly nominated unless he nominates another candidate as his associate from the same political party for his running for the office of president, who is to occupy the office of Vice President and that candidate shall be deemed to have been dully elected to the office of vice president if the candidate for an election to the office of president who nominated him as such associate is duly elected as president in accordance with the provisions aforesaid.”[/b]

Mariory:

http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/southwest/sw322122006.html

[b]Under Section 142 sub-sections (1) and (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, he must be of the same political party with the President for him to be elected with the President.
“He has torn asunder that platform thereby violating Section 142 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 by moving from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to Action Congress (AC).

“This can be a reason for him to vacate his office as Vice President within the provision of Section 146 subsection (3)(c) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and in that respect the President will be justified to nominate another person to be appointed the Vice President with the approval of the National Assembly.

“For ease of reference, I refer to Section 146(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and I emphasise subsection (3)(c) as follows:
“146 (3) Where the office of Vice-President becomes vacant —

(A) by reason of death or resignation, impeachment, permanent incapacity or removal in accordance with section 143 or 144 of this Constitution;

(b) by his assumption of the office of President in accordance with subsection (1) of this section; or

(c) for any other reason.”
“It is my view that the Vice President has lost his office by his declaration for Action Congress (AC) and he should vacate that office to enable a new Vice President to be appointed.”[/b]

http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/cover/december06/22122006/f322122006.html
[b]“Well, Atiku is finished. He has finally fallen into the trap. The PDP is going to expel him and ask the president to immediately nominate another VP, because he was sponsored to that position by the PDP and now he has abandoned it,” the source said, adding: “The presidency is to argue that he has contravened section 142 of the constitution. And the only thing Atiku can do is to go to court, which may take time before the issue is addressed,” said the source.

Section 142 (1) says: “In any election to which the forgoing provisions of this part of this chapter relate, a candidate for an election to the office of president shall not be deemed to be validly nominated unless he nominates another candidate as his associate from the same political party for his running for the office of president, who is to occupy the office of Vice President and that candidate shall be deemed to have been dully elected to the office of vice president if the candidate for an election to the office of president who nominated him as such associate is duly elected as president in accordance with the provisions aforesaid.”[/b]

, ALTHOUGH i am a bloody teacher,the above has further enlightened me about the law, quite an intelligent treatise.above, however it is pertinent to note that it is only when the law does not suit the ruling party that they try to ignore it, now they are quoting the constitution when they are at the receiving end, why didnt they uphold/support the constitution when the supreme court ruled on the withheld lagos funds, again this atiku man self, why the risk when he knows he is still going to step down for General Buhari, under the proposed AC.ANPP/DPA alliance, Nigerians are too smart for the charade playing out, in the days ahead,

I disagreed with you mariory, the sections of the constitution you quoted refers to the election of the president and vice president and besides do you know the number of Governors, Senators Honourable memebers that have defected to PDP, what did the PDP do then? were they removed or impeached? definitely no, and you talked about constitional provisional it will be funny to quote from a sacred document that suppose to guide us which the President has abused severally, it will amuse me if the same president will comply with the provision now, OBJ obeys the constitution when it favours him and his cronies and disobey when it disfavour them, This is not to say that Atikus action is right but when Obanikoro defected to PDP from AD what sis the PDP do, the same Obanikoro was imposed on the PDP Lagos now by Obasanjo, what hell are we talking here? thats why we have always be writing here that Obasanjo is a dictator and lets see what happens to him. if I were Atiku I wont contest again and make sure OBJ candidate does not win  the election.

I totally disagreed with you, read what Chief Gani Fawehimni says about it: Only N‘Assembly can remove Atiku –Gani
By Geoffrey Ekenna
Published: Friday, 22 Dec 2006
A human rights activist and lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehimni, SAN, has said that only the National Assembly can salvage the harm done to the Presidency by the defection of Vice President Atiku Abubakar, from the Peoples Democratic Party to the Action Congress.

According to him, the 1999 Constitution does not envisage a situation where either the president or his deputy defects to another party, different from the one they were elected.

Also, the National Vice- Chairman of the PDP for the South- East, Chief Fidelis Ozichukwu- Chukwu, said that the party was hamstrung by the constitution which did not make provision for such situation.

Both men spoke with our correspondent in separate telephone interviews on Thursday.

Fawehinmi, said that it was left for the National Assembly to classify the defection of the vice- president as gross misconduct or not, to determine whether to remove him from office or not.

He said that by the provision of Section 142 of the Constitution, it was assumed that the president and his vice would run on the same ticket and as such, would also serve out their term together.

Fawehinmi who stressed that there were no provisions in the constitution for such incidences, also said that he was sure that the National Assembly would not remove the vice-president.

He said, ” Of course, what he has done amounts to gross misconduct. It is what the National Assembly will consider. In Nigeria, they do not resign, other wise he should have gone. They do not have shame and the honour to resign. The president can initiate his removal but if the National Assembly says no, that is the end of the matter. But I am afraid that the National Assembly will not even impeach him. The relationship between the president and the legislature is bad. They are aggrieved over the way the primaries of their parties went. But what he should have done ordinarily was to resign”

However, in a statement he issued Thursday evening, Fawehinmi said that it would only be honourable if Abubakar vacates his position to allow the president appoint a replacement.

He insisted that the action of Abubakar had serious implications for him.

He said that the action of the vice-president had torn his joint ticket with Obasanjo apart.

But Ozichukwu- Chukwu said that the PDP might not take any immediate action now on the defection of the vice-president, because of his status as a suspended member of the party.

He said the fact that the law did not provide for such incidences made the matter worse.

He, however, said that the president and the National Assembly would decide what to do with the position of Abubakar.
Study the constitution ver well, there no place the says the President or VP can not change their poloitical party after election into office, for example, a Governor from the Northern Part defected from ANPP to PDP, also Lagos State Deputy Governor moved to another and nothing happen.

Omofineboy, good point, mariory does not know the law.

PDP does not have right to remove VP, niether do President himself.

The consititution is very clear about that.

http://www.nigeria-law.org/ConstitutionOfTheFederalRepublicOfNigeria.htm

abiodunade:

Omofineboy, good point, mariory does not know the law.

Ok what the hell? One of the quotes I posted is from Gani. I never said the PDP has the constitutional power to remove the VP. In fact I am clueless on what the constitution allows in a situation like this. I simply posted sections of the constitution as quoted in the articles.

READ THE DARN LINKS BEFORE FORMING CONCLUSIONS.

bros mariory,abeg no vex.u hear?

This is another crisis in the forming. The executive and the legislatures might not agree on the same conclusion as far as this issue is concerned.
The legislature are aggrieved already, so I guess they will just use this opportunity to pay Obasanjo back for what they claimed he did in the PDP primaries.
Meanwhile, if by any stroke of luck, the legislature agree with the presidency and Atiku is striped of his position as the VP. Then the man will be on his way to jail for sure. EFCC will make sure he is jailed before May 29th 2007.

May God deliver us from all this confusion.
This is not good for our economy and image as a nation

The Nigerian constitution never envisaged a situation like this is therefor silent on the issue.
However, the constitution is clear, The president or Vp can either resign, die or be impeached. These are the only ways by which either of the two offices can be vacated.
Atiku's act is shameful. He should have thought his decision carefully and made wide consultations with professional lawyers who would have counselled him properly.

This is going to be a serious issue coming. The OBJ led administration is a lawless executive and has practised selective justice since coming into power. OBJ in particular has breached nearly every alphabet of the Nigerian constitution and nothing has happened.

Gani is right by saying, it is the National Assembly's call or say to determine whether Atiku's act amounts to misconduct. As far as I can see, it does not. It is joining another party to contest another election. So it is a personal choice. The PDP is just to hasty with words and actions.

make up your mind for yourself. check http://nigeriaworld.com/focus/constitution/chapter6.html as for me it is only during election that they have to be in the same party.

The PDP is not the National Assembly. They are unprincipled and when it comes to matters of the law, they do not consult. They let power blindfold them. I have read it now and as far as I can tell with my limited knowledge I feel Atiku should resign. He is even very corrupt as a VP to start with. The AC should have known better than give him their ticket. The political parties running in Nigeria (PDP, ANPP, AC) all lack one thing , leadership by proper consultation.

Apart from that, OBJ and PDP have erred by declaring his seat vacant. Atiku like OBJ can only be impeached, die or be too unhealthy to continue else, the comments from OBJ/PDP shows their crassness.

Atiku , oh Atiku, I weep not for you
for you were never one of us
You were with them and not for us
You had your chance to be on our part but
you refused and preferred to be part of them
Now, the truth has been revealed - there is no honour amongst thieves.

@Jaybaba

Your post is a good one. The crisis potends a grave danger for the country, I hope God will intervene soon. Both of them should be impeached,investigated and jailed.

@abiodunade
you have said it all.Pdp and Obasanjo lack the constitutional power to declare d seat of d vp vacant.It's only left for the national assembly to see d action of d vp as as a gross misconduct against him,which i believe it is one.But i am not disputing the fact that pdp might use his strenght as the majority in d NASS against Atiku.May God stands in their way as He abborted d third term agenda.

why is d PDP so self-centered.The party never remember all these sections that they are qouting now when senator musiliu obanikoro,from Lagos central,defected to pdp from AD,the platform on which he was elected.He is now the pdp gov. candidate in Lagos state.Also,when the jigawa state governor,Alh.Saminu Turaki abandoned Anpp to join PDP,Obasanjo n his party were celebrating.My appeal to d PDP is that it should give room to the rule of law.

Not even the National Assembly has the right to declare the VP's seat vacant if it is not vacant let alone the PDP. However if the seat is vacant going by events such as resignation, impeachment, death or incapacitation of the previous occupier the PDP or the President in shopping for another candidate can say it is vacant and needs to be filled up people come and lobby for it.