WAHALA! Falana Drops BOMBSHELL, Insists 25 Rivers Lawmakers Who Defected To APC Have Lost Their Seats
Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, has challenged the authority of President Bola Tinubu to reinstall 27 lawmakers who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Rivers State House of Assembly.
Falana, in a statement issued on Tuesday, said that the President’ s intervention in the Rivers State crisis was unconstitutional and illegal. He said that the President had no power to recognise the leadership of Martin Amaewhule, who belongs to the PDP, over that of Edison Ehie, who belongs to the APC, in the House.
He also said that the President had no power to order the withdrawal of all court cases filed by Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his supporters, who are members of the APC.
Falana argued that the 27 lawmakers who defected from the PDP to the APC had lost their seats, according to section 109 of the Constitution, which states that a member of a House of Assembly shall vacate his seat if he becomes a member of another political party without a division in the party that sponsored him.
He said that the Speaker of the House, who is recognised by the Rivers State High Court, had declared the seats of the defectors vacant and that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was obliged to conduct by- elections to fill the vacancies.
