By Olusegun Olanrewaju
A fresh fire was yesterday in the Ebonyi State House of Assembly as the seats of three more members were declared vacant.

The affected lawmakers are Ali Okechukwu (Ishielu North), Franca Okpo (Abakaliki North) and Victor Aleke (Ebonyi North West).

The new twist dangerously trails recent judgment by an Abuja federal high court, which ordered state governor, David Umahi, his deputy, Dr Eric Kelechi Igwe, and 15 lawmakers to vacate office after their defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

In a judgment delivered by Justice Inyang Ekwo, the Abuja court ruled that Umahi and others (the defendants) were deemed to have lost the majority votes scored at the election that brought them to office, and consequently ordered them to vacate their respective offices as governor and deputy governor respectively.

The issue reverberated in the state house of assembly, where 15 lawmakers were also ordered to be delisted for the same reason (defection).

The state house of assembly, which is controlled by the APC, had last month removed the deputy speaker, Obasi Odefa, under controversial circumstances, after declaring his seat and that of two others vacant.

Odefa and the two others, Oliver Osi, representing Ivo and Ngọzi Eziulo (Afikpo North East), had refused to join Umahi to defect from PDP to APC.

The three later sued the House and got reinstated by the court.

In the latest action, the House is following a previous pattern; that of the speaker, Francis Nwifuru, who at the emergency sitting yesterday, read out letters of resignation, claiming they were written by the three PDP lawmakers.

That was sequel to a motion by a member, Chinedu Onah (Ohaukwu South), for the declaration of their seats vacant.

The motion was seconded by Chukwuma Igwe (Onicha West).

Meanwhile, the three lawmakers and their other five PDP colleagues had been absent, while all the 15 APC lawmakers attended the sitting.

Speaker Nwifuru ordered the clerk to write to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), notifying the commission of the development, stressing the need to conduct fresh elections in the affected constituencies.

The House subsequently went on a three-month recess.

Trouble, however, erupted when a PDP faction in the Assembly maintained that the three lawmakers were still members of the House.
In a statement signed by one of the three lawmakers, Victor Aleke, the PDP lawmakers said the action of their APC colleagues amounted to contempt of court.

They said the 15 embattled APC lawmakers, ‘having been sacked by a Federal High Court’, lacked the locus to sit and declare their seats vacant.

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“We hereby urge all constituents of these members whose seats were purportedly declared vacant to remain calm and peaceful as the court pronouncement that sacked the 16 Ebonyi State House of Assembly members still stands, until they get a stay of execution or get favourable judgement from the appellate court,” the lawmaker said.

He added, “For your information, as it stands now, Ebonyi State House of Assembly members are made of Hon. Chris Usulor, Hon. Victor Aleke, Hon. Chidi Ejem, Hon. Humphrey Nwuruku, Hon. Oliver Osi, Mrs Franka Okpo, Hon. Okechukwu Ali and Mrs Lilian Ezulor.

“These are the members of the state House of Assembly, until a court of competent jurisdiction says otherwise, or fresh elections conducted after 90 days, according to Justice Inyang Ekwo’s declaratory judgment,” he added.

In the Abuja case that sparked the sack row in the legislature, parties joined in the suit were the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and the APC as 1st and 2nd defendants respectively.
Umahi had announced his defection to APC on November 17, 2020, on alleged basis of “injustice”.

Justice Ekwo had also declared the seats of the 15 lawmakers vacant, because of defection.

Also, the PDP had, in another suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/ 1041/21, asked the court to declare the seats of the lawmakers vacant, “having dumped the party for another”.

Rebuttal

But reacting to the issue yesterday on Facebook, the Ebonyi lawmakers reportedly said they are still bona fide members of the Assembly.

Recall that on Tuesday, the Speaker had declared the seats of three members of the Assembly elected on the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) vacant.

This followed a letter of resignation purportedly written by the three lawmakers resigning from their seats.

The embattled Speaker of the House, Francis Nwifuru was said to have read the letter during an emergency sitting of the House.

Recall that on March 8, 2022, the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja in a declaratory judgement sacked the Ebonyi State Speaker and 15 other Lawmakers for defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to the All Progressives Congress, APC in the State