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+--- Thread: Federal High Court declares the defection of Saraki, Dogara, 51 others in the Nationa (/showthread.php?tid=17377)
Federal High Court declares the defection of Saraki, Dogara, 51 others in the Nationa - Edoman - 05-17-2019
Federal High Court declares the defection of Saraki, Dogara, 51 others in the National Assembly to other political parties as unlawful
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The Federal High Court has declared as unlawful the defection of 53 lawmakers in the National Assembly to other political parties.
Delivering the judgement today, Justice Okon Abang held that based on the judgement of the Supreme Court, which gave reasons that would allow for defection, the lawmakers did not meet that requirement.
The judgement followed a suit filed by the Legal Defence Assistance Project (LEDAP), challenging the defection of the Senate President Dr Bukola Saraki, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and 51 other lawmakers and Senator Godswill Akpabio.
LEDAP had asked the court to order the lawmakers to vacate their seats in the National Assembly and return all salaries and allowances earned since their defection, arguing that the lawmakers defected from their political parties for selfish reasons other than division in their parties as prescribed by law.
But in the case of Senator Godswill Akpabio, Justice Abang held that he did not violate the law because he neither decamped nor defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) with the facts before the court.
The court had on Monday, granted leave to the senator to file an application challenging the suit by LEDAP, saying that there is no evidence before it that he was personally served, since the suit is not a class act against the Senate.
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RE: Federal High Court declares the defection of Saraki, Dogara, 51 others in the Nationa - Edoman - 05-17-2019
Update: Court strikes out suit challenging the defection of Saraki, Dogara, 52 other lawmakers
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A Federal High Court in Abuja has struck out the suit filed by the Legal Defence and Assistant Project (LEDAP), challenging the defection of 53 lawmakers for lack of locus standi to file the suit.
Initially, Justice Okon Abang had declared the act as unlawful based on the judgement of the supreme court, which laid down reasons that would allow for defection. According to him, the lawmakers did not meet that requirement.
He further explained that there was no division of the kind recognized by the Supreme Court to allow the defendant, that is the Senate President and 53 others retain their seat with the exception of the third defendant, Senator Godswill Akpabio.
He said this is so because in his view, at the time they claimed there was division in their parties which resulted in them decamping, those political parties were still functioning as political parties, hence, the division was not of the kind that will enable them decamp.
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