PDP loses bid to unseat Tambuwal •Party files counter suit By Joe Nwankwo, Assistant Editor, Abuja Efforts by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to remove the Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, through an exparte application failed as the Federal High Court in Abuja presided over by Justice Ahmed Mohammed ordered the party to put the Speaker on notice. The court refused the party’s request for an ex parte order to compel Tambuwal to vacate his seat as Speaker of the House of Representatives following his defection from the majority party, PDP, to the All Progressives Congress (APC). Aminu Waziri Tambuwal Aminu Waziri Tambuwal However, The PDP has filed a counter suit, seeking permission to move against Speaker. The PDP had through its counsel, Mike Ahamba (SAN), who argued the application said Tambuwal had lost his seat by virtue of his defection, according to the provisions of Section 68 of the 1999 Constitution. The party cited the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives as respondents in the motion. It urged the court to order Tambuwal to give effect to the provisions of Section 68(1)(g) of the Constitution of the Federal Repuplic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) to declare his seat at the House of Representatives vacant. The PDP also prayed the court for an alternative order directing the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihediona, to declare the Kebbe/Tambuwal seat vacant by an order of mandamus. Also in the exparte motion, PDP asked the court to stop Tambuwal from performing or continuing to perform the function of the Speaker in the House of Representatives, or sitting or continuing to sit in the House as a member. A 16-paragraph affidavit in support of the exparte motion averred that Tambuwal, who was sponsored in the 2011 general elections by the PDP has left the party to join the APC, as he announced on October 28, 2014, thereby informing the House on his present status as required by law. The affidavit as deposed to by James Ugbogu, a lawyer, said it was constitutional for House of Representatives to declare Tambuwal’s seat vacant in the circumstance of his defection to APC. Under Section 53(3) of the 1999 Constitution, the party said: “The Deputy Speaker should perform the functions of a Speaker of the House of Representatives in the absence of a Speaker in valid occupancy of the position, or legal incapacitation of the incumbent Speaker.” The Judge, Justice Ahmed Mohammed ordered that Tambuwal and other respondents in the motion should be put on notice through substituted service and adjourned till December 12, 2014 for further hearing of the matter. The plaintiff is praying the court to compel Tambuwal to vacate his membership of the House, having regard to his defection on October 28, 2014. Upon the refusal of the exparte application, Justice Mohammed consequently adjourned till December 12, 2014 for hearing of the suit. Meanwhile, in a different ruling, Justice Mohammed also stopped the chairmen of Kebbe and Tambuwal Local Government Councils in Sokoto State, Bala Konkani and Sambo Bello Modo, respectively, from joining as co-defendants in the suit filed by Tambuwal, challenging the removal of his aides and seeking to stop the PDP members in the house to declare his seat vacant. The court also stopped three members of the Sokoto State House of Assembly, Abdulsamad Ibrahim Dasuki (Tambuwal East constituency), Suleiman Hanse (Tambuwal West Constituency) and Shuaib Umar ( Kebbe constituency) seeking to be joined as co-defendants. The court stopped them on the ground that their interest in the matter did not align with that of the defendants and as such could not join as co-defendants. The court noted that the interest of the applicants bordered on the seat of the Speaker, adding that Tambuwal who is the plaintiff in the instant case had presented all his requests before the court. The applicants had last Friday applied to the court to be joined as co-defendants. In the suit filed by PDP, the plaintiff is further seeking an order compelling Tambuwal to, in his capacity as Speaker, prior to his action; declare vacant the Kebbe/Tambuwal constituency seat, which he represents. The plaintiff also wants the court to give express effect to Section 68 (i) (g) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). The section provides: “A member of the Senate or of the House of Representatives shall vacate his seat in the House of which he is member if [g] being a person whose election to the House 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.” Tambuwal has written a petition to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, praying that his suit allegedly assigned to Justice Evoh Chukwu be re-assigned to another judge for likelihood of bias on Chukwu’s part. In a petition against Justice Chukwu, Tambuwal who is billed to preside over plenary when the House reconvenes tomorrow barring any last minute changes, on Monday prayed the Federal High Court, presided over by Justice Ibrahim Auta to reassign the case to a “neutral Judge who has not made any judicial pronouncement on the issue, or made public, his own opinion on the issue at hand.” In the petition seeking the reassignment of the suit with registration Number FHC/ABJ/CS/871/2014 to another judge, the Speaker observed that the presiding Judge, Justice Chukwu ESJ, had in the past “made a pronouncement on similar issues, in similar cases, decided by him,” and submitted that the learned Justice is likely to habour “an iron cast judicial position or opinion in respect the suit.” Meanwhile, a Federal High Court in Abuja has given permission to the PDP to apply for a mandatory order compelling either the Speaker or Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives to declare vacant the Kebbe/Tambuwal seat being held by Aminu Tambuwal. Justice Ahmed Mohammed, in an ex-parte ruling on Monday granted the PDP “leave to apply, by way of judicial review, for an order of mandamus compelling the Speaker or Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives to give effect to the provisions of Section 68(1)(g) of the Constitution by declaring the Kebbe/Tambuwal Federal Constituency seat vacant.” The ruling was on one of two ex-parte motions filed by the PDP pursuant to order 34 Rule 3 of the Federal High Court (Civil procedure) Rules 2009. By the leave granted it, the PDP is now required to file a formal suit to achieve its aim. Tambuwal and Emeka Ihedioha, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives are named as respondents in the motion marked, FHC/ABJ/CS/901/2014. On Monday, PDP’s lawyer, Mike Ahamba (SAN), while moving the motion for leave to apply for an order of mandamus, said by its action, his client only wants whoever occupies the seat of the Speaker or Deputy Speaker of the House of Reps to perform his/her responsibility under the Constitution. “Section 68(2) renders Section 68(1) (g) non-self-operating. Where a person defects from his party, the person can defiantly stay in the House and maintain his seat until either the Speaker or the Senate President performs his responsibilities under Section 68(2). “We are asking the Speaker to declare the seat of Kebbe/Tambuwal Constituency vacant following the defection of the second respondent (Tambuwal),” Ahamba said
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 07:51:51 +0000
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