Senior Nigerian Advocate Kunle Adegoka has responded to the political unrest in Rivers State and the recent 27 legislators that defected from the PDP to the APC. He cited the Supreme Court ruling in the Amaechi and INEC cases to highlight the legal position and the court’s unwavering position that political parties play a major role in determining the outcome of elections in Nigeria. He cited the court’s decision that lawmakers, no matter how many of them there are, cannot resign from office while they are still in office. He declared that all members who have defected will be regarded as having vacated their seats, regardless of whether one person stays with the original party. He emphasized the importance of this court decision, which sought to uphold political integrity among.
He said in an interview with TVC, ”If you look at the decision of the Supreme Court in Amaechi and INEC case, the court was categorical that it is parties that contest elections in Nigeria. So when you win on the platform of a party, you cannot defect while you are still sitting in the House of Assembly. No matter the number, if it remains only one legislator or only one member of the National Assembly, all the other members who have defected shall be regarded as having vacated their seats.
If the Supreme Court has pronounced in 3 cases and there are so many court of appeal decisions. The essence is for the political scene to be clean from political prostitution, to deter politicians from cross-carpeting from the political party of which they are elected.”
