Chaos in Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP )

 

There   was  chaos in the leadership of  the Peoples Democratic Party on Thursday as it made two conflicting demands  from  both the House of Representatives Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal and  the  Federal High Court, Abuja on the defection of 37 of its  members to the All Progressives Congress.

While  the PDP  released a statement  in which it requested Tambuwal to  declare the defectors’ seats in the House vacant,  in the court, it asked  for an  order   compelling them  to return to its fold.

In the statement by its National Publicity Secretary,  Olisa Metuh, the  party argued that  since the 37 lawmakers  had   renounced their membership, the Presiding Officers of  the House must declare their   seats vacant without any further delay.

The PDP  said that a court order  which the 37  lawmakers  referred to while announcing their defection on Wednesday  was wrongly interpreted.

Metuh’s  statement    reads,  “The attention of the PDP has been drawn to claims by 37 defecting members of the House 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  1999 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 defection when there is no division in any Party. We wish to re-emphasize here that the courts have pronounced, and INEC has concurred, that there are no factions in the PDP.”

Metuh said this shall be in adherence to our grund norm, which is the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).

But  at  the  FHC, Abuja,  the PDP asked   that  the 37  lawmakers ‘ defection should be declared  “null and void.”

It  warned  that  their defection could  lead to a breakdown of law and order in the National Assembly and the entire polity if not reversed.

In an action filed by its counsel, Joe-Kyari Gadzama (SAN), on Thursday,  the PDP maintained that the defection contravened the order made by the Abuja FHC on December 17, 2013, when counsel to the 37 lawmakers tried to move a motion for interlocutory injunction, seeking to stop  a plan to declare their seats vacant.

The defection of the lawmakers had given the APC a simple majority in the House, increasing its numerical strength from 135 to 172, against PDP’s  171.