Lawyer wants Saraki, Akpabio’s seats declared vacant

A Human Rights lawyer, Mr Frank Tietie, has advised that the seat of Senate President Bukola Saraki, be declared vacant since he had defected to another party.

Tietie, who made the call yesterday in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) about the situation of the country also called on the Senate to do same for Senator Godswill Akpabio, the former Senate Minority Leader.

The lawyer declaration said the became necessary because of the provision of Section 68 (1) (G) of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

He said 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 added that INEC must proceed immediately to conduct bye-elections to replace the affected senators and members of the House of Representatives.

“The fact whether or not there exists a faction in a party can only be determined by INEC. It is only where INEC is satisfied that there has been a division or merger before senators or representatives can begin to defect from one party to the other.

“A proclamation by powerful figures in a political party that there has been a division in a political party cannot satisfy the requirement by law,’’ he said.