Governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday, urged the leadership of the House of Representatives to, as a matter of urgency, declare vacant the seats of the 37 federal lawmakers who dumped the PDP for the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, if they fail to return to PDP.
The PDP Governors who met in Dutse, the Jigawa State capital, Tuesday night, under the aegis of PDP Governors Forum, also urged delegates at the on-going National Conference to work towards the unity and interest of Nigeria, just as they hailed President Goodluck Jonathan for convening the conference.
A communique signed and read by the Chairman, PDP Governors’ Forum and Governor, Akwa Ibom State, Chief Godswill Akpabio, said:
*The PDP governors commended the judiciary for its judgment and resolved that members who defected to APC should respect the rule of law.
*That the APC should not play politics with the judiciary.
*That any member who does not return to the party should lose his seat.
*The PDP Governors congratulated Senator Iyiola Omisore and Chief Ayo Fayose on their victory during the primaries in their states.
*The PDP Governors promise to work with them assiduously and urge other aspirants to support the two candidates.
*That the next PDP Governors meeting will be held in Bauchi on the 8th &9th May, 2014.
*The PDP Governors commend President Goodluck Jonathan on the on-going Confab.
*The PDP Governor also advised that the delegates at the Confab should work on the unity and interest of Nigeria.”
It will be recalled that a Federal High Court in Abuja had asked the 37 former members of PDP to resign their seats at the House of Representatives for defecting to the opposition APC.
The court also perpetually restrained the legislators from effecting any leadership change in the assembly.
The court was delivering judgment in a matter brought by PDP asking that the legislators should not be allowed to take part in the activities of the assembly.
The presiding judge, Justice Adeniyi Ademola who held that the lawmakers no longer had any business, morally and legally in the assembly, asked them to resign from their seats as members of the House of Representatives, having defected to another political party while their tenure was yet to expire.
The judge in his judgment said: “Having perused the arguments of counsel and the constitutional provisions, it is clear and unambiguous that the defendants were sponsored by the PDP and won the election on its platform. It is also the court’s opinion that their tenure has not expired and there is no division in the PDP.” – Vanguard.
