A
abujagirl
Guest
Come Monday a herculean task awaits senate President David Mark. This follows the alleged defection of 11 senators from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Following Section 68(1) (g) and (h) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the senate president is expected to declare vacant the seats of the defecting senators, until a court decides otherwise.
Section 68(1) (g) (h) reads,
68. (1) 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; or
(h) the President of the Senate or, as the case may be, the Speaker of the House of Representatives receives a certificate under the hand of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission stating that the provisions of section 69 of this Constitution have been complied with in respect of the recall of that member.
If seats will be declared vacant in the senate, the APC will lose sorely. 12 APC seats including that of Senator Ajayi Boroffice who defected from the Labour Party to APC will be declared vacant.
Mark is now faced with the task of invoking that section of the constitution, facing the backlash that will certainly come with it or ignoring the constitution and facing his party’s ire.
Either way, the odds do not favour the senate president. A crisis is imminent in the Nigerian senate. What will the Senate President do?
Following Section 68(1) (g) and (h) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the senate president is expected to declare vacant the seats of the defecting senators, until a court decides otherwise.
Section 68(1) (g) (h) reads,
68. (1) 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; or
(h) the President of the Senate or, as the case may be, the Speaker of the House of Representatives receives a certificate under the hand of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission stating that the provisions of section 69 of this Constitution have been complied with in respect of the recall of that member.
If seats will be declared vacant in the senate, the APC will lose sorely. 12 APC seats including that of Senator Ajayi Boroffice who defected from the Labour Party to APC will be declared vacant.
Mark is now faced with the task of invoking that section of the constitution, facing the backlash that will certainly come with it or ignoring the constitution and facing his party’s ire.
Either way, the odds do not favour the senate president. A crisis is imminent in the Nigerian senate. What will the Senate President do?