A People’s Democratic Party (PDP) stalwart in Adamawa, Umar Bello Jada aka Calculate has lauded the valiant move of the state house of assembly to declare the seat of member representing Michika constituency, Joseph Ayuba (Depolis) vacant saying the action is in deference to Nigeria’s extant constitution.
Jada in a phone chat with our reporter noted that the assembly will have come under serious scrutiny for dereliction of duty had it failed to checkmate the lawmaker’s untoward and illegal action which is obverse to the spirit and letters of the constitution.
He noted that recently Nigerian courts have sacked many lawmakers for leaving their political parties with the recent one being the sack of former speaker of house of representatives Yakubu Dogara for leaving the party he rode to the national assembly.
“Recently Nigerian courts have sacked many lawmakers for leaving the political platforms they rode to their various positions on account of their failure to follow due process of the law.
“The recent high profile case involved the immediate past speaker of house of representatives, Yakubu Dogara who also defected from the PDP to the ruling party. These instances should tell you that it is a grevious offence to leave your party to another without exhausting due process of the law.
“Adamawa State House of assembly and the speaker have done the right thing by declaring the seat of the lawmaker vacant because the action is in line with our extant constitution.
“The conditions under which a person can leave a political party has been spelt in the constitution that is, a person can only leave a political party if there is parallel leadership.
“In the case of PDP there is no leadership contention from the national level, to state chapter and even Michika local government to warrant any such action by Depolis. I must appreciate the lawmaker’s for living up to their constitutional remit. This will serve as deterrent,” he said.
But when reminded that a lawmaker representing Mubi South constituency, Musa Bororo has defected to the PDP and another representing Mayo Belwa state constituency Ibrahim Italiya also defected from ADC to APC and yet their seats where not declared vacant, Jada said the two cases are peculiar and different from the one involving Depolis.
“There was serious leadership contention at the national level in APC when Bororo defected to our party. You may wish to recall that there was serious crisis between Adams Oshiomhole and members of the national working committee which became a subject of many litigations that led to the the ouster of the then leadership of the party.
“But after the ouster of Oshiomhole, substantive leadership was not elected but a governor was appointed to take charge of the party which also premised many litigations. Bororo’s seat can’t be declared vacant because of the leadership crisis rocking APC then.
“The reason why the assembly did not declare the seat of Ibrahim Italiya vacant even though he did not defect to PDP has to do with the fact that the political party which brought him to the assembly was in serious disarray without any form of leadership.
“You may also wish to recall that a large part of the leadership of ADC defected to APC, others defected to PDP and so on. His seat could not be declared vacant because the party that brought him to the assembly has imploded,” Jada added.
