PDP Stands Firm on Ex-Rivers Lawmakers’ Status: Party Deems Position ‘Sacred and Inviolable

The party clarified its stance in response to a misleading report circulating on social media, falsely alleging that there were attempts to compromise the party’s position and offer an unattainable lifeline to the former members of the Rivers State House of Assembly to reclaim their vacated seats.
Ologunagba, in the statement, asserted, “Our party unequivocally maintains that the affected members have forfeited their seats in the Rivers State House of Assembly by blatantly committing a grave constitutional violation.
“To reiterate, the PDP, in its Counter Claim represented by its National Legal Adviser, Kamaldeen Ajibade SAN in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/1681/2023 filed at the Federal High Court Abuja, explicitly stated that the former Rivers State lawmakers ‘are no longer members of the Rivers State House of Assembly from December 11, 2023, when they publicly announced their defection from the PDP to the APC’.

“Furthermore, the PDP in the aforementioned Suit seeks, among other things, the following Declarations/Orders against the former Rivers State lawmakers:
• A Declaration that in accordance with Section 109 (1)(g) of the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), the seats of the plaintiffs have been vacant since December 11, 2023, when they defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

• A Declaration that the plaintiffs are no longer members of the Rivers State House of Assembly following their defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on December 11, 2023.
• An Order directing the first defendant (INEC) to conduct bye-elections in the respective constituencies of the plaintiffs in adherence to the provisions of the laws.
• An Order of perpetual injunction restraining the plaintiffs from presenting themselves and/or continuing to present themselves or from carrying out or further carrying out the functions and duties of members of the Rivers State House of Assembly…”
The statement highlighted that there exists a multitude of Judicial rulings from the highest court in the country supporting the stance adopted by the PDP.
From: Nwakaji Peace Martins