Tietie, who made the call on Monday in a telephone
interview with the News Agency of Nigeria about the situation of the country
also called on the Senate to do same for Sen. Godswill Akpabio, the former
Senate Minority Leader.
The lawyer said that the declaration became necessary
because of the provision of Section 68 (1) (G) of the 1999 constitution as
amended.
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According to him, the section provides that the seat of a
Senator or a member of the House of Representatives shall be declared vacant if
he becomes a member of any other political party before the expiration of the period
for which he is elected.
He, however, said that there could only be an exception
to the above Section if “the existence of a division in the political party of
which the senator or representative was previously a member.
“The existence of a merger of two or more political
parties or factions by one of the parties of which the Senator or representative
is previously a member.’’
Tietie said that when none of the conditions above had
been fulfilled, all such Senators and members of the National Assembly who have
defected from the party that originally sponsored their elections must have
their seats declared vacant.
He added that INEC must proceed immediately to conduct
bye-elections to replace the affected senators and members of the House of
Representatives.
(NAN)
