A Federal High Court in Abuja, on Friday, ordered former
Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, to vacate his seat as a
member representing Dass, Tafawa Balewa and Bogoro Federal Constituency of
Bauchi State.
Delivering judgment, Justice Donatus Okorowo, declared that
having defected from Peoples Democratic Party to All Progressives Congress,
Dogara was no longer qualified to occupy the seat by virtue of Section 68(1)(g)
of the constitution.
Justice Okorowo aligned with the argument of the PDP that by
defecting from the party that sponsored him to the ninth National Assembly
before the expiration of his tenure, Dogara ought to vacate the seat as he was
no longer qualified to partake in the activities of the lower house.
The judge, who held that the action of the lawmaker is
prohibited by law, agreed that the aim of Section 68(1)(g) was to check
political prostitution among the legislators.
“The judgment is therefore given in favour of the plaintiffs
I hereby granted the reliefs sought by the plaintiffs,” he declared.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the PDP and one of
its members in Bauchi State had, in a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1060/20, sued
Dogara, the speaker of the House of Representatives.
Other defendants are the Attorney General of the Federation,
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the APC as 1st to 4th
defendants respectively.
In a related development, Okorowo had, earlier in a
judgment, dismissed the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/883/30 and filed by
Incorporated Trustees of United Global Resources for Peace Organisation against
Dogara and five others on the grounds that the group lacked locus standi to
institute the matter.
NAN on April 11, reported that the judgments, in the two
separate suits filed against Dogara, were stalled due to the FHC’s Easter
vacation.
But one of the court workers informed NAN that the judgments
might be delivered if the Chief Judge, Justice John Tsoho, gave a fiat to the
effect.
The court began the vacation on April 8 and will end April
25.
The PDP and the group had asked the court to remove the
former speaker of the lower house as a member representing Dass, Tafawa Balewa
and Bogoro Federal Constituency of Bauchi State, over his defection to APC.
Dogara had, on July 24, 2020, defected from the PDP to the
APC when he submitted a resignation letter to the chairman of the Bogoro ‘C’
Ward in the state.
The plaintiff, through their counsel, Jubrin Jubrin, said by
virtue of Section 68(1)(g) of the Constitution, Dogara by defecting from the
party that sponsored him to the ninth National Assembly before the expiration
of his tenure, ought to vacate the seat as he was no longer qualified to
partake in the activities of the lower house.
NAN reports that Justice Inyang Ekwo, a sister judge, had,
on March 8, sacked Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi and his deputy, Kelechi Igwe,
alongside other lawmakers who dumped the PDP for APC, describing their action
as unlawful.
Justice Taiwo Taiwo, another judge in the Abuja division,
had also, on March 21,, ordered the 20 lawmakers from Cross River to vacate
their seats following their defection from the PDP to APC.
The lawmakers comprise two House of Representatives members
and 18 state House of Assembly members.
(NAN)
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