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PDP Mocks APC Over Witless Statement on Former Rivers State Lawmakers …Insists Defectors Have Constitutionally Lost Their Seats

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1 year ago

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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) OfficialPDPNig lampoons the All Progressives Congress (APC) OfficialAPCNg over its witless press statement wherein it laboured without success to subvert the Constitution on the vacation of seats by former members of the Rivers State House of Assembly who lost their membership of that Legislative House upon defection from the PDP.

The statement further exposes the hallucinating and manipulative plots by the APC to force itself into goverment in Rivers State against the WILL of the people; a futile venture which will remain a mirage for the APC.

It is indeed pathetic for the APC to think that the facts and true import of Section 109 (1) (g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) to the effect that the former lawmakers have since lost their seats can be muddled and lost in litigations and lengthy press statements.

Interestingly, in the failed bid to subvert the Constitution to give the former members of the Rivers State House of Assembly a lifeline, the APC ended up admitting the clarity of the proviso of Section 109(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) in voiding their seats upon their defection.

For the avoidance of doubt, Section 109 (1)(g) of the Constitution is clear in providing that “a member of a House of Assembly shall vacate his seat in the House if – being a person whose election to the House of Assembly was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before expiration of the period for which that House was elected:

“Provided that his membership of the latter political party is not as a result of a division in the political party of which he was previously a member or of a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored.”

The former members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, for reasons best known to them, wittingly vacated and summarily lost their seats as nothing in the proviso protects or allows them to retain their membership of the Rivers State House of Assembly after decamping from the political party upon which they were elected.

These former members of the Rivers State House of Assembly have only themselves to blame for Constitutionally vacating their seats; a course which cannot be reversed or remedied. They should admit their miscalculation and bear the inescapable consequences.

This is especially so as the Supreme Court, in the case of Abegunde vs Ondo State House of Assembly and Others, has since clarified and affirmed the import of the proviso in Section 109(1)(g) in validating the automatic vacation of a seat by a member of a Legislative House who defected from the Party upon which he was elected into that House.

For the umpteenth time the PDP cautions the APC to steer clear of Rivers State; it should perish the thoughts of forcefully taking over the State and stop exasperating the public space by seeking to reverse the irreversible.

The APC should come to terms that with the vacation of seats by the former lawmakers, the quorum of the Rivers State House of Assembly will be determined by the number of the remaining lawmakers as provided by law; until a bye-election is conducted to fill the vacancies now existing in the Rivers State House of Assembly as a result of the defection by the former members.
Signed:
Hon. Debo Ologunagba
National Publicity Secretary @SimFubaraKSC | Follow Ekwutosblog for more news.

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Politics

JUST IN: Osun State Sues Federal Government Over Withheld LG Funds!

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10 hours ago

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June 5, 2025

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Osun State has dragged the Federal Government and the Attorney General of the Federation to the Supreme Court for allegedly withholding local government allocations for February, March, and April 2025.

The state is demanding:

A declaration that the FG has no right to withhold funds meant for democratically elected LGs.

An injunction to stop future withholdings.

Osun claims the withheld funds are crippling essential services like education, healthcare, and local development.

Meanwhile, there’s a brewing political storm: the APC is questioning the legitimacy of the February LG elections, while the PDP insists the councils are validly elected.

The Supreme Court is now set to decide a major case on local government autonomy and constitutional rights.

What’s your take? Is this about law, politics, or power?

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Politics

Peter Obi’s Media Aide Hails Soludo’s Move to Cut ₦137m Monthly Office Cleaning Expenses, Says Government House staff were responsible for cleaning during Obi’s Tenure.

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11 hours ago

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June 5, 2025

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Mr. Valentine Obienyem, Media Adviser to Mr. Peter Obi, has acknowledged Governor Charles Soludo’s recent efforts to address the inflated ₦137 million monthly cleaning bill in Anambra State.

He described the move as a welcome initiative in the ongoing effort to promote better management of public resources.

Obienyem noted that the step taken by Governor Soludo reflects the principles Mr. Obi upheld during his tenure from 2006 to 2014, particularly his focus on reducing the cost of governance and prioritising service delivery over government comfort.

He pointed out that Mr. Obi consistently applied modesty and accountability in the management of public funds.

He explained that under Mr. Obi, the cleaning and gardening of the Government House were mostly handled by government-employed staff.

In rare cases where extra hands were needed, the expenses were minimal and never approached the levels recently reported.

 

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Politics

Anambra guber: NRM faults INEC final list, says we have no governorship candidate

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11 hours ago

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June 5, 2025

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The National Chairman of the National Rescue Mission, NRM, Chief Edozie Njoku, has declared that the party has no candidate for the forthcoming governorship election in Anambra at the moment.

According to him, the name published by INEC in its final list of candidates for the election on Wednesday was obtained through illegality and cannot stand.

Ekwutosblog reported on January 17 2025, that Njoku, National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, dumped the party and was elected as the new National Chairman of the NRM in an emergency national congress of the party held in Abuja.

His position was affirmed by a Federal High Court in Abuja which ordered the INEC to recognise the leadership of the NRM that emerged from the party’s emergency national convention.

Recall that the emergency convention was held to fill vacant positions in the party’s National Executive Committee, NEC, and correct lopsidedness in its composition.

Just as INEC did after the convention was held, the electoral body refused to accept or even appeal the outcome of the court judgement that ordered it to recognize the new leadership of the party.

Justice Obiora Egwatu in a judgment faulted the position of INEC and ordered it to recognize and accept the leadership of Edozie Njoku.

The judgment was on a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/45/2025 filed by the NRM, with INEC as sole respondent.

However, in its final list of the governorship candidates and their deputies published on Wednesday, INEC recognised 40-year-old Ndidi Christy Olieh as the NRM’s flagbearer for the election and Ogbe Ekene Reginald as her deputy.

Addressing reporters in Abuja on Wednesday, Edozie said his political party will not allow the illegality to stand, adding that the party leadership does not know nor does it have anything to do with the candidates listed by the electoral umpire as its flag bearers.

“NRM has no candidate for the Anambra state governorship election,” Chief Njoku declared.

“There’s no candidate at all.

“But INEC now went behind and got the Secretary to bring a candidate,” he said, explaining that all efforts made for the candidates to come from the right channel were blocked by the Mahmood Yakubu-led INEC.

“So how can you tell me that NRM has a candidate?” He queried.

“We’re getting our recognition from INEC sooner than you think, then we’ll be doing the mathematics on that,” he said.

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