Don’t Crucify Ortom For Leaving APC, Says Soyinka

[Edoman]

Nobel laureate, Prof . Wole Soyinka , said on Thursday that no power or force should crucify Benue State Governor , Samuel Ortom , for returning to the Peoples Democratic Party from the All Progressives Congress .
Soyinka , while clarifying that he was not campaigning for any political party , said that was his position on those who defected from the APC to the PDP.
He said , “ I am not campaigning for any party . That is my position on those that leave their party to another . They do it for all kind of reasons . And I do not believe that Ortom , the governor of one of the states , should be crucified by any power or force for taking decision. ’’

The playwright spoke in Lagos at the launch of his latest interventions series , Interventions VIII , titled Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes ? : Gani ’ s Unfinished Business. The book , which formed the text of his speech at the 10th memorial lecture of the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi ( SAN ), was officially released to the public by Bookcraft on July 3, 2018 .
Soyinka said he had , in a letter written to Ortom , told the governor that, “ As the leader of a state that experienced attacks , you have a right to seek the promise of an alternative means of security for your people because they remain your primary responsibility.
“ We are all free over the actual choice of an alternative destination but no one can deny the inalienable entitlement to such action especially when they are provoked by disillusionment and sense of impotence under existing association.

“ Suddenly we see the beginning of a heavy - handed campaign , reprisal and unruly circles over your political decision. This goes beyond any immediately- affected state . And alert us all to the threat against uncommon democratic definition and the basic right of free choice of political powers towards its attainment . I can only urge you to remain resilient , unbowed and undeterred . ’’
The don also berated the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for investigating the governor , adding that Ortom left his former party ‘‘due to the crisis in the country. ’’
“ Due to the crisis in the country, someone defected and then the EFCC started chasing him . Does that look like a coincidence or what?’’ Soyinka queried.

He said ex - President Olusegun Obasanjo was busy hijacking existing movements, warning Nigerians to be wary of him .
He added , “ He frustrated the June 12 and often put himself forward on any issue. He is welcome to reform and as his slogan may be , the redemption process has started . I don ’ t give up on him and you will be astonished how I have often wished him well when he inaugurated his Presidential Library , I had planned to attend the event but I had a rethink .
“ I don ’ t remember the good he has done . It will be very difficult to find one . I can ’ t remember one at this moment . ’’
He noted , however , that between now and 2019 , there was still an opportunity for a reform of the country.
According to the playwright, there are acts of mis- governance and unforced errors under the Muhammadu Buhari administration .
He said , “ There are unforced errors and acts that are considered stupid . And failure to secure lives and languages of self- excusing which were condemned in the past but resurfacing all over the place . ”

Soyinka , who decried the glossing over of “ intolerable degrees of bloodshed in the country, ” said , “ Also , failure to exert authority when and immediately when due which led to the killings. There is a cheapening of lives . The value of lives in the last year or so , on a level we haven ’ t witnessed in the country for a long time ; and that is one of the reasons it has become essential that we all embark on ground- clearing for a new generation of leaders . And to make sure that in the process , we don ’ t bring back what we are just getting out from. That is one of the stupid acts that we could be held responsible for by the coming generation . ’’
The session was moderated by a media professional , Mr Kunle Ajibade ; Chairman, Editorial Board of the Nation Newspaper , Sam Omatseye ; and human rights lawyer, Mr Femi Falana ( SAN ) .
Some others at the session included Prof J . P . Clark -Bekederemo , Prof Ademola Abass the Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Overseas Affairs and Investment , Gboyega Banjo ; General Manager and Chief Executive Officer of the Musical Society of Nigeria Centre , Lagos, Kolawole Koiki .




https://punchng.com/dont-crucify-ortom-for-leaving-apc-says-soyinka/

[Edoman]

..Justifies defection of Ahmed, Ortom, Tambuwal

...Says APC lacks moral rights to question lawmakers’ defection

By Gboyega Akinsanmi

A human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana has said the All Progressives Congress (APC) cannot remove the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki without the required two-third majority of the entire members of the upper chamber of the National Assembly.

Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has also justified the defection of Governors AbdulfatahAhmed, Samuel Ortom and Aminu Tambuwal of Kwara Sokoto, Benue and States from the APC to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), citing a precedent by the Supreme Court.

He canvassed these positions in a statement he issued yesterday, stressing that even though the defection of the Reformed APC (R-APC) lawmakers was illegal and unconstitutional, the APC “lacks the moral and political right to condemn their defection to the PDP.”

Due to irreconcilable differences that plagued the APC just after the 2015 elections, the last fortnight has witnessed the defection of Saraki, Ahmed, Ortom, Tambuwal and scores of lawmakers in the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly to the PDP.

Consequently, the PDP alleged that the federal government and the APC had started shopping for “a fraudulent interim court order to declare vacant the seat of the Senate President following his defection from the APC to the PDP.

In a three-page statement, the senior advocate cautioned against the illegal plot to remove Saraki as the Senate President, lamenting that the crisis of misgovernance in the country “has been accentuated by the official impunity of members of the ruling class.”

He also lamented that the executive “is justifying disobedience of court orders while legislators regularly suspend their colleagues and carry out impeachment of governors outside the ambit of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

On the alleged plot to remove Saraki, Falana noted that section 52 of the 1999 Constitution provided the requirements for the impeachment of the Senate President and the Deputy Senate President, which should be fulfilled to remove Saraki.

Specifically, Falana explained that the section “provides that the Senate President and the Deputy Senate President can only be removed by the resolution supported by the votes of not less two- thirds majority of the entirety of the members of the Senate.”

The senior lawyer noted that since the APC legislators “cannot muster the required two-third majority of the votes of the entire members the plan to impeach Senator Saraki should be dropped forthwith.”

The human rights activist explained that the scenario playing out in the Senate was without precedent in our political history, though explained how the accord between the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP) collapsed in the Second Republic.

Falana added that when the accord collapsed in the Second Republic, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ume Ezeoke of the NPP, a minority party in the lower chamber of the National was not forced to resign.

He explained that the election of Tambuwal as the Speaker of the House of Representatives was made possible by the alliance of the APC and defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) legislators.

Falana added that when he decamped from the PDP to the APC, Tambuwal was not asked “to step down from the office of the Speaker. Therefore, the APC should stop from demanding the resignation of Saraki as Senate President.”

On the governors’ defection, Falana observed that the 1999 Constitution “is silent on defection by the president and state governors from the political parties which sponsored their election.”

He, however, cited a decision of the Supreme Court in a case between Atiku Abubakar v Attorney General of the Federation (2007), which upheld that Abubakar’s defection from the PDP to the defunct ACN was not illegal and unconstitutional.

Contingent on this judicial precedent, Falana said the decision of governors “to dump the political parties which sponsored their elections was not challenged.

“I have therefore, canvassed the argument that the defection of Tambuwal, Ortom and Ahmed from the APC to the PDP cannot be said to be illegal or unconstitutional,” he added.

Also citing the decision of the Supreme Court in a case between Abegunde v Ondo State House of Assembly (2014), the senior advocate admitted that the defection of the R-APC legislators from the APC to the PDP and ADC “can be impugned under section 68 (1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution.”

Since the APC had allowed legislators to decamp from the PDP to join its fold recently, Falana noted that the ruling APC “lacks the moral and political right to condemn the defection of the R-APC legislators”.

“But the crass opportunism of the APC cannot legitimise the prostitution of the political system,” he said.

“Having decamped from the APC, which sponsored their elections, the R-APC defectors ought to resign from the legislative houses and seek a fresh mandate from the electorate. In order to curb the dangerous trend, some aggrieved members of the constituencies of the defectors ought to contest the legal validity of the refusal to resign from the affected legislative houses,” Falana suggested.

https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/20...ority/amp/