Defection Suit: “I Didn’t Decamp From PDP”, Akpabio Begs Court To Suspend Judgment

On Monday, May 13, the past Senate minority leader, Godswill Akpabio has asked a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja to suspend its judgement on an application seeking to vacate seats of 54 federal lawmakers who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). 

Akpabio who is one of the lawmakers affected by the suit also prayed the court to allow him to respond to the suit that was filed by an advocacy group under the aegis of Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP) which has applied for the refund of salaries and allowances of lawmakers who defected after their election into the National Assembly (NASS) saying he was not served with the court processes before the matter was fixed for judgement.

Among those the Plaintiff is asking the court to declare their seats vacant, include the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara.

The lawmakers, comprising of 17 Senators and 37 House of Reps members, had earlier briefed two lawyers to represent each of the groups. The lawyers who also approached the court after the matter was earlier fixed for judgement on April 11,queried the locus-standi of the Plaintiff to declare their continued stay in the National Assembly as illegal and unconstitutional.

The plaintiff had through its lawyer, Mr. Jubril Okutekpa, SAN, argued that the only way to curb gale of defections that herald major elections in the country, was for the court to make Sakari and his co-defendants to pay for what it termed as their “political and constitutional iniquities”.

Among Senators the Plaintiff is asking the court to declare their seats vacant for defecting from political parties that sponsored their election, contrary to section 68 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, included Senators Dino Melaye, Rabiu Kankwaso, Lanre Tejuoso, Shaaba Lafiagi, Rafiu Ibrahim, Barnabas Gemade, Abdulazeez Nyako, Monsurat Sunmonu, Usman Nafada, Suleiman Hunkuyi, Ibrahim Danbaba, Ubale Shittu, lsah Misau, Suleiman Nafif. While the House of Reps members included Hon. Zakari Mohammed, Hon. Aminu Shagari, Hon Ooker-Jev, Hon. Rufai Chanchangi, Hon. Abdulsamad Dasuki, Hon. Sani Zoro, Hon. Benjamin Okolo, Hon. Bode Ayorinde, Hon. Sani Rank, Hon. Dickson Tarkighir, among others. 

Meanwhile, few days to the new judgment date, Akpabio, filed a separate application, insisting he was not consulted before any lawyer was appointed to appear for the matter.

Akpabio contended that the suit was not a class action, hence he was at liberty to use a counsel of his choice and to personally defend himself. Despite stiff opposition from the Plaintiff’s counsel, Justice Okon Abang, said he was minded to accede to Akpabio’s request.

Justice Abang based his decision on section 36 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, stressing that since the matter was not a class action, Akpabio’s right to fair hearing would be affected if the matter was decided without his input. 

Meanwhile, in his reaction after the proceeding, Akpabio who was joined as the 3rd Defendant, maintained that contrary to position of the Plaintiff, he said he never defected from the People Democratic Party. He said he only moved into the All Progressives Congress, APC, after the PDP “was flooded”.

Before the matter was adjourned till Tuesday for parties to exchange their addresses, Justice Abang, said he could still deliver judgment on the matter as earlier slated. Even though the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN, and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, were cited as 1st and 56th Defendants, respectively, however, none of them entered appearance nor filed any process either in support or against the suit.

Specifically, the Plaintiff, in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/996/2018, applied for an order of mandamus to compel the Deputy Senate President and his counterpart at the House of Reps, to declare their seats vacant to allow the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to conduct bye-elections to fill the positions. 

Comments

comments