Sequel to Monday’s ruling by Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which ordered the 37 House of Representative members who decamped from People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to All Progressive Congress (APC) to vacate their seats in the House, members of the House today held a closed-door session lasting over two hours.
Deputy Chairman of House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Victor Ogene confirmed to journalists after the session on Wednesday that the sitting focused mainly on the recent judgment, including issues relating to defections and partisanship.
Ogene maintained that that the speaker is not under any pressure from anyone to declare the seats of the 37 defected lawmakers vacant, revealing that it was agreed in the sitting to defer any action about the defection cases in court until the proceedings come to logical conclusions legally.
“There were no pressures on Mr. Speaker; if there were, we would have held this closed-door session on Tuesday but we decided to wait for all the parties in the case to get served”, Ogene said.
“We agreed to allow different cases in court regarding defections of some members to go through the full course; and in arriving at that decision, the House took cognisance of the fact that precedence had been set even before last Friday and Monday judgments.
“If you recall, a certain member that defected from the Labour Party in Ondo State to the then ACN, that matter is still in court, and that member is still participating in the affairs of the House. There are some other instances that fall in that category”.
Ogene added that Honorable Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and his deputy, Honorable Emeka Ihedioha did not file any appeal to redress the High Court’s judgment against the 37 defectors.
“The two principal officers had no personal or individual interests in the case but were nominal parties to the suit, having been listed as defendants in the case”, Ogene explained.
He described the reports of pressure as the work of mischief makers tring to drag the speaker into the matter in their publications. He insisted that the speaker did not appeal on individual basis, neither does he have any personal interest in the ongoing court case.
Ogene assured that the offices of the Speaker and his Deputy will address the issue so that mischief would not be introduced into the ongoing process, emphasizing that the duo are just nominal defendants in the two cases.
“The appeal was filed by the 37 members that defected from the PDP”, he said. “The National Assembly management, as an institution,n has a right to appeal if they so desire”.
Ogene said the reps also discussed the increasing inclination towards partisanship in carrying out the businesses of the House during the session, a trend he admitted is influencing the arguments and decisions of members in the floor.
“We decided to insulate the house from the growing trend of partisanship that is beginning to arise in the House during plenary”, revealed Ogene.
“We decided that in line with the decision we took during our inauguration, we should keep partisanship aside to make good laws for order, peace and development of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. That is our core mandate as members of the House of Representatives”.
