Reps divided over court decision on defecting lawmakers

The recent ruling by a Federal High Court asking 37 defecting lawmakers to vacate their seats has apparently received little attention from the House of Representatives. Although members of the ruling party welcome the judgment and want it implemented to the letter, their counterparts in the opposition consider the court decision as a breach of their rights.

With the situation getting out of hand, the Speaker called for an executive session to deliberate on how to manage the situation. At the closed door session which lasted for two hours, members engaged in a war of words. The Speaker and his deputy were not left out as the PDP members challenged them for appealing the suit.

Addressing journalists after the rowdy session, the deputy chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Honourable Victor Ogene, said “we decided to talk among ourselves and if you recall, it has been a while that we went behind closed doors to talk frankly.

“It is nothing unusual, it is just to get each other’s viewpoints and straighten things out. Decision arising from our interactions is to allow the different cases in courts regarding defection of some members to run their full courses.

“In arriving at that decision, the House took cognisance of the fact that precedence had been set before Friday and Monday rulings. If you recall, a certain member has defected from Labour Party in Ondo State to the then ACN. That matter is still in court. That member is still participating in the affairs of the House. There are some other instances that fall under that category.

“We also decided to insulate the House from the growing tendency of partisanship that is beginning to arise at the floor during plenary.
“Upon our inauguration on June 6, 2011, we all consciously decided to keep party affiliation at bay and work to make good laws for peace, order and good governance in Nigeria.

“We thought it was important to restate that this is our core mandate as members of the Seventh House of Representatives. That point was well taken by all the members present at that executive session,” Ogene said.

He noted that the Speaker and his deputy did not appeal the judgment on their individual capacity, but as nominal parties in the suit.

The deputy speaker also denied that he appealed the judgment of the court concerning the affected lawmakers. In a statement issued by his chief press secretary, Okey Epia, he said “for the avoidance of doubt, the deputy speaker wishes to clarify that he is just a nominal party in the suit, by virtue of his office and the counsel was briefed by the management of the National Assembly to represent the House of Representatives as an institution.

“The deputy speaker remains a firm and committed member of PDP and associates himself fully with its ideals, principles, purposes and progress.”