Declare Rivers Assembly Members’ Seats Vacant For Leaving PDP, Group Tells INEC

A group, Centre for Reform and Public Advocacy, has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to declare vacant seats of 27 Rivers State House of Assembly members who defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In a letter written to INEC on Monday, the group asked the electoral body to commence the bye-election process to fill the vacant seats of the defected lawmakers in the Assembly.
Quoting section 109 (1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution, the group said the lawmakers lost their membership by defecting to the APC.
That by virtue of the decision in Ogbuoji VS Umuha (2022) 8 NWLR (PT 1832), 323, the Independent National Electoral Commission shall conduct a bye-election to fill the vacancies created by the said defection.
“In view of the foregoing, we respectfully implore you to commence the process of conducting a bye-election in Rivers State to fill the said vacancies,” the group said in the letter signed by its legal adviser, Kalu Agu.
It gave the electoral body two days to act, noting that failure to declare their seats vacant would attract legal action in line with the provision of the constitution.
The call by the group came after the lawmakers under the leadership of Martins Amaewhule, former Governor Nyesom Wike’s allies, announced their defection on Monday.
The defection of the lawmakers came two weeks after Chief Wike revealed that 27 lawmakers were now opposing the incumbent state governor, Siminalayi Fubara.
In a video, the defected lawmakers could be seen waving the APC flag and chanting solidarity songs in support of President Bola Tinubu.
The political crisis in the state has polarized the members of the assembly – with one faction loyal to Chief Wike and the other to Governor Fubara.