Femi Falana Openly Backs Rivers Governor Fubara Over Assembly’s Crisis
A legal luminary and top human rights activist, Femi Falana, a senior advocate of Nigeria, has thrown his support for the embattled Rivers State Governor Simi Fubara over the political crisis rocking the state’s House of Assembly.
The governor has said that the lawmakers who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress have ceased to be members of the assembly. Only three members remain in the PDP and the governor said they are the authentic members of the house.
This argument has been affirmed by the legal icon. He said that the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria aims at preventing decamping. Therefore, any lawmaker who defects to another party will lose his or her seat.
He said, “Unless you can show and demonstrate that there is division in a political party that sponsored your election, you cannot remain in any legislative arm if you decamp to another party.
“The whole idea is that the constitution set out to ban political prostitution on the part of legislators.”
Falana said, “It may be very difficult to persuade the court to allow them to remain in the legislative house unless they are prepared to go back to the people and have their mandate renewed by the people.
“The Supreme Court made this clear in the case of Adetunde and the Labour Party, that you cannot decamp and then remain a member of a legislative house in Nigeria unless you can show that there is a division in your party.
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