”It is illegal to Leave The Party That Sponsored Your Elections” Femi Falana to Saraki,other defectors

Lawyer and humanright activist, Femi Falana, says the defection of
some lawmakers from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is illegal and
unconstitutional. Speaking during a Channels TV programme on
Friday, Falana said the lawmakers’ defection is contrary to both the
provisions of the 1999 constitution as well as previous court
judgements regarding the issue.
The section 68 (1) of the 1999 constitution which talks
about defections states: “A member of the senate or of the
house of representatives shall vacate his seat in the house
of which he is a 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;
provided that his membership of the latter political party is
not as a result of a division in the political party of which
he was previously a member or of a merger of two or
more political parties or factions by one of which he was
previously sponsored.”

Falana said the division in question “must be total” and “must not
be artificial factionalisation.”
“The division the constitution was talking about was
recently witnessed in the PDP whereby you had the Ali
Modu Sheriff faction and the Makarfi faction. Two
conventions were held almost simultaneously two sets of
officers emerged down the line. This (the APC’s) was a
division that was announced in a press conference; it goes
beyond that. You cannot leave the party that sponsored
your election for another party without refining so that you
can ask for a fresh mandate form the electorate. And that
has not happened in this case.” he said
The APC reps caucus had hinted at taking legal actions against the
defectors.

lIB