Nigeria Ruling Party Asks House Leadership To Declare Seats Of 37 Defecting Lawmakers Vacant

BEVERLY HILLS, CA, December 19, (THEWILL) - The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday asked the leadership of the House of Representatives to declare the seats of the 37 PDP members who defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) vacant, insisting that there was no division in the ruling party. In a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Olisa Metuh, PDP maintained that the order of the Court which the defectors were referring to in still laying claims to their seats clearly says that 'status quo' be maintained which means the affected members shall remain members of the PDP. According to Metuh, ''The attention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been drawn to claims by 37 defecting members of the House of Representatives elected on the platform of the PDP to the APC that they obtained an injunction restraining the leadership of the National Assembly and the Party from declaring their seats vacant in line with provisions of the Constitution. ''We have, after a careful review discovered that this claim is false. For the avoidance of doubt, the order of the Court clearly says that 'status quo' be maintained which means the affected members shall remain members of the PDP. ''The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in section 68 (i) (g) clearly spells out the consequences of cross carpeting when there is no division in any Party. We wish to re-emphasize here that the Courts have pronunced, and INEC has concurred that there are no factions in the PDP. ''Since the affected members have renounced their membership of the PDP, we call on the Presiding Officer in the House of Representatives to declare the 37 seats vacant without any further delay. ''This action shall be in adherence to our grand norm, which is the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended). ''Nigerians are eagerly awaiting this call to duty as this will go a long way in demonstrating our commitment to the rule of law.''