Iconic Human Rights Lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, says the seats of the 27 defected members of the Rivers State House of Assembly remain vacant, in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, despite the intervention of President Bola Tinubu in the row between Governor Sim Fubara and Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
The Senior Advocate made this known in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday, reacting to a bizzare 8-point agreement signed by Fubara, Wike and other Rivers State stakeholders, which offered the governor nothing and left him in a political cage.
Falana stressed that the agreement is not legally binding rather advisory, noting that Tinubu’s intervention must always be grounded in the provisions of the Constitution.
He stated that the presidential reinstatement of the 27 defected members of the Rivers State House of Assembly by the Presidency, “is alien to the Constitution in every material particular.
“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 is mandatorily required to conduct the by-election once the ex parte order issued by the Federal High Court last Friday is quashed.”
Falana explained that the 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress have lost their seats, “because the PDP that sponsored them is not factionalised or divided as stipulated by the Constitution.
“Even if all the cases in the Rivers State High Court and the Federal High Court are withdrawn in line with the advice of the President, it is submitted that all actions taken by the Speaker recognised by the Rivers State High Court remain valid,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 has not been removed by the required number of legislators, a presidential directive cannot remove him.
“Given the foregoing, the President and all the parties involved in finding political solutions to the crisis in Rivers State are advised to turn to the Constitution for guidance.
“I agree with former Governor Tunde Fashola SAN, who has said that President Tinubu has no constitutional role in resolving the political crisis in Ondo and Rivers States. Therefore, the intervention of the President in both cases is purely advisory,”
cpcnews.org 