Daily Independent (Lagos)
Sunny Igboanugo
6 July 2009
Speaker of Bauchi State House of Assembly, Babayo Gamawa and 17 of his colleagues, who defected to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) a fortnight ago with the state Governor Isa Yuguda, may soon land into trouble.
That is if the current move by the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), under which they won election sails through.
Scandalised by their action, the ANPP is already arranging legal papers, which may be filed this week to strip them of their status as lawmakers.
National Chairman of the party, Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke, revealed this much to Sunday Independent at the weekend in reaction to the on-going crisis in Bauchi State on the twin incidents of Yuguda's defection and the current attempt to impeach the state Deputy Governor, Mohammed Garba Gadi.
Ume-Ezeoke, who said the party was quite shocked by the action argued that much as it could not stop anybody from belonging to any political party, since it was an individual decision, people must learn to act within the confines of the law.
"Just as we did in the case of the governor, we are going to court to ensure that we strip them of the mandate they are presently enjoying. It is obvious that these people have acted beyond their bounds. They cannot eat their cakes and have it. There is no way they can cross to another political party with our mandate.
"It was the party that helped them to win the election. They campaigned with our name and because the people trusted our party, they voted for them. To now turn round and dump that platform, while insisting on holding on to the mandate, is a serious fraud, which we cannot allow.
"We are already preparing our papers. By next week (this week), we shall be going to court to ask that they be stopped from performing the duties of legislators, because they are no longer our members. And if they insist, let them meet us. We shall test their action using the law. ANPP is a law-abiding party and therefore we can't physically prevent anybody. But surely, I can assure you that the law will take its course. The law is on our side in this matter," he said.
The ANPP boss said contrary to the belief that the party was silent on Yuguda, it had since gone to court to recover its mandate, adding that the governor must not only relinquish his position, but the deputy governor must be sworn in immediately.
"We are saying that he should return our mandate. He has gone with half of the mandate while the deputy is holding the other. We want him to surrender what he has, so that the mandate will be complete for the deputy to be sworn in. We have since filed that suit in court. We filed it since two weeks ago and we are asking the court to hear it expeditiously."
He said the party had notified the House of its demand and intention to head for the court should the defecting members remain adamant on remaining in office.
"We could have sent a letter to the Speaker to remove them from the House, but the Speaker is also culpable, but we have sent the letter to him all the same to fulfil all righteousness.
"We are relying on the pronouncement of the Supreme Court in Rotimi Amaechi, where it clearly stated that the mandate given in an election belongs to a political party and not an individual. We are sure that the court will listen to us and return our mandate. We are not bothered that he is leaving the party. It is his right to do so. But he should not go away with our property, which is the mandate. We are telling him emphatic no. This is ours," Ume-Ezeoke, said.
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