Tambuwal not under pressure to declare members seats vacant – Ogene

Hon. Victor Ogene, the Deputy Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Media and Public Affairs, said the Speaker, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, was not under pressure to declare seats of defected members vacant.
Some embers of the House had earlier in the year defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.
A Federal High Court has declared the defection illegal and ordered that those involved should be denied the right to participate in the activities of the House.
However, on Wednesday, Ogene (APGA-Anambra) said Tambuwal was not under pressure to move against the members who defected.
Ogene made the clarification at a news conference after a closed door session in Abuja on Wednesday.
He said: “We would have held the session on Tuesday but we decided to wait until today to allow all parties have copies of the judgment.
“We are not aware of pressure from anywhere to declare anybody’s seat vacant.”
Ogene said that resolutions were also reached at the session on the need to insulate members from partisanship that was gradually creeping into debate on issues in the House.
The legislator said the move was necessary because members had earlier agreed to keep political parties aside in the interest of Nigeria.
He described as mischievous publications suggesting that the speaker and his Deputy, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, appealed against Monday’s judgment of an Abuja Federal High Court.
Ogene said that the two principal officers were mere nominal parties to the case.
According to him, the National Assembly has the right to go on appeal as an institution if it so desires.
“However, it is wrong to insinuate that the speaker and the deputy speaker in their personal capacities appealed against the rulings of last Monday,” Ogene said.
Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court on March 31 ruled that defectors to other parties could not retain their seats.
Ademola had asked 37 former members of the PDP to resign their seats in the House of Representatives for defecting to the All Progressives Congress.