People’s rights lawyer, Femi Falana, says President Bola Tinubu’s purported reinstatement of 27 defecting members of the Rivers State House of Assembly is not supported by the Constitution of Nigeria which is the sole authority on such matters.
Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), speaking Tuesday, was lending his voice to the position of the Nigerian Constitution, as it affects defection between political parties by sitting Assembly Members.
Falana said in a statement, that presidential interventions must always be grounded in the provisions of the Constitution.
“With respect, the reinstatement of the 27 cross carpeting members of the Rivers State House of Assembly by the Presidency is alien to the Constitution in every material particular,” Falana said.
There have been political skirmishes and filibustering in Rivers State in the last three months, arising from a misunderstanding between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, which has split lawmakers in the House, with 27 of them decamping from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), a party in whose central government Wike currently serves as minister.
Wike and Fubara are viewed in Nigerian political circles as godfather and godson and it has been widely reported that the kernel of their misunderstanding is that Wike is pressing to wrest the administration and finances of Rivers State from incumbent Governor Fubara and operate them remotely from Abuja, where he now serves as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.
Fubara is said to be staunchly resisting the move because it would amount to a hijacking of his constitutional responsibility and authority and would leave him with arms and legs flailing like a puppet on a string, while Wike usurps his role and responsibilities as the governor of Rivers State.
The skirmish between both men has seen the emergence of parallel sittings, an impeachment plot against the governor, the demolition of the Assembly complex, and a gale of resignations of pro-Wike commissioners in Fubara’s cabinet.
President Tinubu had on Monday met with Fubara and Wike at the Aso Villa in Abuja.
After Monday’s meeting, the President directed that the warring parties withdraw all matters instituted in the courts by Fubara, and his team, and that the leadership of Martin Amaewhule in the Rivers State House of Assembly be recognised, and not that of Edison Ehie.
Amaewhule and his 26 allies, are said to be sympathetic to Wike.
Femi Falana, further said: “The seats of the cross carpeting members have been declared vacant by the Speaker known to law. To that extent, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is mandatorily required to conduct the by-election once the ex parte order issued by the Federal High Court last Friday is quashed.”
Falana also observed that the defecting legislators can only retain their seats if they can prove that the political party that sponsored them is divided into two or more factions.
“Even if all the cases in the Rivers State High Court and the Federal High Court are withdrawn in line with the advice of the President, it is submitted that all actions taken by the Speaker (Ehie) recognised by the Rivers State High Court, remain valid, including his pronouncement on the vacant seats of the 27 cross carpeting members of the House.
“In other words, only a court of law is constitutionally competent to set aside the pronouncement of the Speaker which is anchored on section 109 of the Constitution. Furthermore, as the Speaker (Ehie) has not been removed by the required number of legislators, a presidential directive cannot remove him,” Falana stated.
