Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), said on Sunday that
legislators who recently defected from the political parties that
sponsored their elections were not entitled to hold on to their seats......
Falana, who cited various decisions of the Supreme Court to back
his stance, however, said defecting governors were not bound to resign
from office as the Constitution was silent on the implication of a
governor dumping the political party.
In a statement he released on Sunday, the SAN, also argued that
there was no legal basis for the removal of the Senate President, Dr.
Bukola Saraki, on the basis of his defection from the All Progressives
Congress on which platform he was elected to the Senate in 2015, to the
Peoples Democratic Party.
According to him, legislators can only justifiably defect from
their political parties without losing their seats when there is a
faction at the party’s national level such that it is difficult for the
parties to function.
He cited the Supreme Court’s decision in Abegunde v Ondo State
House of Assembly (2014) LPELR 23683, in which the appellant a member of
the House of Representatives, had decamped from the Labour Party to the
defunct Action Congress of Nigeria.
Falana said, “From the clear and unambiguous pronouncements of the
apex court, a division in a political party envisaged by the
Constitution cannot be a figment of the imagination of prospective
defectors.
“The division must make it practically impossible for the party to function.
“In the instant case, the APC was not split to the extent that two
parallel congresses were held leading to the emergence of two parallel
sets of officers at the national, state and ward levels.
“A recent example of the factionalisation or division of a
political party was recently witnessed when the PDP broke into two
factions led by former governors Sheriff and Makarfi until the faction
led by the latter was recognized by the Supreme Court.
“No doubt, the members of the R-APC were dissatisfied with the
running of the affairs of the APC but they did not hold any parallel
convention which would have produced elected officials of the aggrieved
members.
“To that extent, the defection of the R-APC legislators from the
APC to the PDP and ADC can be impugned under section 68 (1) (g) of the
Constitution.
“However, since the APC had allowed legislators to decamp from the
PDP to join its fold in the recent past the ruling party lacks the moral
and political rights to condemn the defection of the R-APC legislators.
“But the crass opportunism of the APC cannot legitimize the prostitution of the political system.
“Having decamped from the APC which sponsored their elections, the
R-APC defectors ought to resign from the legislative houses and seek a
fresh mandate from the electorate. In order to curb the dangerous trend
some aggrieved members of the constituencies of the defectors ought to
contest the legal validity of the refusal to resign from the affected
legislative houses.”
On the implication of the defection by governors, Falana said,
“However, the Constitution is silent on defection by the President and
state governors from the political parties which sponsored their
election.
Hence, in Atiku Abubakar v Attorney General of the Federation
(2007) 4 SC (Pt II) 62 the Supreme Court held that the defection of
the appellant from PDP to the former Action Congress of Nigeria was not
illegal and unconstitutional.
“On the basis of that judicial authority, the decision of governors
to dump the political parties which sponsored their elections was not
challenged. I have therefore canvassed the argument that the defection
of Governors Tambuwal, Ortom, and Ahmed of Sokoto, Benue and Kwara
states respectively from the APC to the PDP cannot be said to be
illegal or unconstitutional.”
On the move to remove Saraki as the Senate President on the basis
of his defection from APC to PDP, Falana said, “The planned removal of
the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki by the APC should be stopped as
it cannot stand.
“The attention of APC legislators ought to be drawn to section 52
of the Constitution which provides that the President and Deputy Senate
President can only be removed by the resolution supported by the votes
of not less two thirds majority of the entirety of the members of the
Senate.
“Since the APC legislators cannot muster the required two-thirds
majority of the votes of the entire members the plan to impeach Senator
Saraki should be dropped forthwith.”
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