Clark asks INEC to fill up 27 ‘vacant’ Rivers Assembly seats
An elder statesman and convener of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Chief Edwin Clark, has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a by-election to fill the seats of “defected” lawmakers in the Rivers State House of Assembly. Daily Trust reports that 27 members of the state House of Assembly had in […]
Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
An elder statesman and convener of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Chief Edwin Clark, has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a by-election to fill the seats of “defected” lawmakers in the Rivers State House of Assembly.
Daily Trust reports that 27 members of the state House of Assembly had in December 2023, “dumped” the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the heat of political crisis in the state.
The lawmakers are loyal to former governor of the state, Nyesom Wike, who is currently the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Their “defection” followed the feud between Wike and his successor, Governor Siminalayi Fubara, over the control of governance and politics in the state. It also led to multiple litigations.
But in an open letter addressed to the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, Clark said the defection of the lawmakers was a violation of section 109 (1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), noting that there was no crisis in the PDP.
The letter reads in part, “The seats of the 27 former members of the Rivers State House of Assembly have been vacant for a long time, more than one year after the former holders vacated, thus depriving the people of the affected constituencies of representation in the state house of assembly.
“INEC under your watch is yet to carry out its statutory function of conducting a by-election to fill the seats. By their actions, going by Section 109 1(g), those 27 persons have automatically and immediately, without reversal, lost their seats.
“I plead with the Chairman of INEC to, without delay, conduct a by-election to fill the vacant seats and give adequate representation to the people of the affected constituencies.”