THE SUN NIGERIA
A few days after senator representing Anambra South, Ifeanyi Ubah, dumped the Young Progressive Party (YPP), for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), the national leadership of his former party has resolved to take legal action against him to vacate his seat.
Senator Ubah, last week, left the YPP on whose platform he was elected to the Senate, claiming irreconcilable differences between him and the leadership of the party.
The letter announcing his defection, which was read on the floor of the Senate, stated: “I am willing to formally notify and inform the distinguished Senate President, and our colleagues of irreconcilable differences between me and the leadership of my party.
“I, therefore, resolved to move from the YPP to the most important party in Africa, the APC, after careful considerations, and due consultations with the members of my community, my constituents, and critical stakeholders in Anambra State.”
“After a thorough evaluation of the political landscape in Nigeria, particularly the good works being done by the APC since the emergence of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the president of Nigeria, I have come to the realisation and conclusion that the APC is better suited to champion the ideals and principles that are known.”
While Senator Ubah and the APC celebrate his defection, the action negates provisions of 1999 Constitution (as amended) in Section 68(1)(G), which stipulated the conditions under which a person elected into the National Assembly could cease to hold office.
Paragraph (g) of subsection 1 of the section clearly stipulates that a member of the Senate or of the House of Representatives shall vacate his seat which he is a member, if, being a person whose election was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected. It further stated that the lawmaker will vacate his seat “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.”
Relying on these provisions, National Chairman of YPP, Bishop Emmanuel Amakri, has vowed that the party will be taking two fundamental prayers to court for judicial interpretation of the reasons Ubah gave for leaving the party.
Speaking to Daily Sun, the party’s boss said that since YPP is not in any form crisis to warrant Ubah’s defection from the party, the leadership will seek legal prayers for him to vacate his seat, which belongs to the party not the individual.
He said: “Since Ubah has decided to move on, the party has also decided to parh ways with him. But, we will go through the normal legal means to get our right. We will institute legal action against him because we need to establish that the party is not in any leadership crisis.
“We need to neutralise the reason he gave for leaving the party. We want to clear the air that the party’s leadership is intact and that there is nothing like irreconciliable differences in the leadership of the party.” He said also: “I challenge anybody to find out from other lawmakers on our party’s platform if there is any crisis in our party. We respect every member of the party, let alone someone who hold our ticket at such exalted position. We treat them like eggs. Our party will protect our right within the confines of the Constitution of Nigeria and within the rights and privileges of every member who has reposed confidence in my leadership.”
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