Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal

The thirty-seven All Progressives Congress members of the House of Representatives, who defected from Peoples Democratic Party have described calls to declare their seats vacant as prejudicial.

The lawmakers, in a statement signed on their behalf in Abuja on Saturday by Andrew Uchendu, noted that there had been “calls on the Speaker of the House, Aminu Tambuwal, to declare vacant the seats of the 37 lawmakers for defecting to another party.”

He described  the calls as a display of ignorance, adding that it “emanated  from people who should otherwise know better,” saying those making the calls wanted to mislead the public.

The lawmaker stated, “At the risk of being cited for contempt, it needs to be reiterated that the issue of whether a seat is or is not vacant is a live matter before a competent court in Abuja and we all know that once a matter is before the court, it behoves on civilized and law-abiding citizens to stay from drawing conclusions or deciding the matter before the court does so.”

According to him,  such calls at this period amount to contempt of the judicial process.

He added that those who  were making the calls could  approach the Federal High Court through a motion of joinder, and join the PDP as plaintiffs in the ongoing matter.

He stated, “Our argument before the court is that only Mr. Speaker is constitutionally empowered to declare seats vacant after satisfying himself of some facts. And if the Speaker were to declare seats vacant, these PDP apologists should note that it will cut across all parties whose members have so far defected, one way or the other.

“Thus declaring seat vacant, after due process has been followed, would not only affect the APC as a party.

“Let us appeal to all to stay all speculative comments and refrain from heating the polity until the judicial process comes to some determination.”

He stated that the display of ignorance was enough, adding that the lawmakers would not hesitate to file contempt charges against “people who seek to be more politically concerned than the PDP itself.”

-Punch