You have no right remaining in the House, court tells decamped Reps

An Abuja Federal High Court on Monday queried the moral and legal right of the 37 members of the House of Representatives, who decamped from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) to remain in the House.

Justice Adeniyi Ademola, while granting an order of perpetual injunction restraining the defecting lawmakers from effecting any leadership change in the House of Representatives, declared that their change of party affiliation while still on a mandate of the PDP has denied them the moral and legal right to participate in proceedings in the House.

“Having perused the arguments of counsel and the constitutional provisions, it is clear and unambiguous that the defendants were sponsored by the PDP and won the election on its platform. It is also the court’s opinion that their tenure has not expired and there is no division in the PDP.

“The defendants are, therefore, not competent to vote or contribute to any proceedings in the House of Representatives. An order of perpetual injunction is, hereby, ordered, restraining them from altering or attempting to change the leadership of the House of Reps,” the judge said.

Following the decampment of the 37 members to the APC, which gave the APC a slight majority in the House, the PDP, had on January 7, instituted a suit seeking to restrain the House of Representatives from altering the composition of its leadership.

The majority was later reversed when some APC lawmakers decamped to the PDP.

While arguing the originating summon, the PDP’s counsel, Yunus Usman, had faulted the cross-carpeting of the lawmakers, saying by virtue of the provision of Section 68(1)(g) of the 1999 Nigerian constitution, as amended, the  lawmakers ought to have vacated their seats immediately.

But, counsel to the defendants, Mamoud Magaji, in his own submission, argued that it was wrong for the PDP to have sought to restrain its former members from House activities for defecting, praying the court to dismiss the suit.

Meanwhile, the APC has indicated its decision to appeal the verdict.

In a statement issued in Abuja shortly after the ruling, the minority leader of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, said the court had stood the law on its head by its decision on the decamped lawmakers’ status.