All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers moved fast yesterday to correct what they saw as a wrong interpretation of the Federal High Court’s ruling.
The party caucus in the House of Representatives said Justice Adeniyi Ademola did not ask the 37 lawmakers to vacate their seats.
According to the caucus, the judgment was that the 37 members could not participate in the removal of principal officers.
“Other pronouncements by the judge as to the status of our 37 members were mere opinion,” the caucus said.
The lawmakers, who spoke with reporters after plenary, said the ruling had confirmed their worst fears and accused their colleagues in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of being “in collusion with a certain judge to turn facts and law on its head to achieve sinister ends”.
Minority Whip Samson Osagie, who read a statement titled: “Justice Adeniyi Ademola’s judgment on 37 APC Representatives: at last our fears have been confirmed”, on behalf of the caucus, said: “The judgment has turned law on its head and cannot stand.”
The caucus accused the judge of “veering off the course of the case before him to do the bidding of the ruling party.”
The 37 affected members yesterday appealed the ruling via a letter from their solicitors, M.A. Mahmud (SAN) & Co.
The appeal is on seven grounds of “Error in Law”.
The statement, presented by Osagie, reads: “Yesterday (Monday) a Federal High Court presided over by Justice Adeniyi Ademola handed down a ruling in which he restrained 37 APC members, who joined our great party on December 18, last year from effecting the change of leadership in the House of Representatives, thereby granting the prayers of the plaintiffs – the PDP in the suit.
“For us in the APC, we were not surprised because in the course of the proceedings, the same judge issued a preservative order as soon as the arguments against his jurisdiction in the case was taken. This was our first apprehension at the commencement of the case.
“Our fears were further confirmed when the judge, after granting the reliefs sought in the suit, went ahead to render an opinion on the issues that were not before him nor solicited by the plaintiffs.
“Consequently, a section of the media and indeed the public have been misled by the court ruling into believing that the judgment has terminated the tenure of office of the affected members. This is not only untrue, but also a mere obiter dicta expressed by a judge, who veered off the course of the case before him to do the bidding of the ruling party. At best, the judgment has turned law on its head and cannot stand.”
Osagie said the affected members had taken steps to appeal the judgment and that they are confident that justice will prevail, adding that there is no judgment before the House, directing any member of the APC to vacate his or her seat.
He added: “In any event, Section 68 (2) of the 1999 Constitution makes it clear that satisfactory evidence must be presented to the House before any of the provision, of S.68 (1) can become applicable. At the moment, the APC in the House remains strong and focused on the need to provide necessary checks and balances to the ship of the state as being piloted by the ruling party.
“At a time when this government is unable to explain to Nigerians the whereabouts of huge missing funds; at a time when profligacy among ministers has reached its crescendo; at a time when scores have been sent to their graves under a scheme purported to be a recruitment sham; at a time when government assets in the power sector have been sold out with Nigerians experiencing more darkness than light; at a time when insecurity and insurgency have almost defied government emergency rule and at a time when mis-governance has taken a centre stage, while Nigerians are wallowing in penury, the PDP government has continued to run the country like the private fiefdom of those holding the reins of power.
“Nigerians, we know, cannot succumb to the shenanigans of the ruling party that has plundered this nation for 15 years.
“The House of Representatives remains the bastion of hope of the traumatised and pauperised Nigerians and we shall not give in to the attempt of some of our PDP colleagues in collusion with a certain judge to turn facts and law on its head to achieve sinister ends.
“Finally, for the avoidance of doubt, let me state on behalf our members that the import of yesterday ruling was that our 37 members cannot participate in the removal of principal officers of the House; nothing more, nothing less.
“Every other pronouncements by the judge as to the status of our 37 members of the House were mere opinion, In any event, this judgment was given in vain and in ignorance of the House rules, which govern the appointment of party leaders in the parliament. It is also an attempt by the court to meddle in the internal affairs of the parliament.”
•Party protests verdict
Andrew Uchendu (APC Rivers), who led the former new PDP members into APC, said they had no regrets joining the APC, adding that their decision was final and irrevocable.
Another member, Asita Honourable (APC Rivers), said the judge had no moral standing to speak on the moral status of members who had defected.
The House of Representatives was calm yesterday, despite the ruling, which brought apprehension in some quarters.
Prior to the sitting, The Nation learnt there was a meeting in which PDP members planned strategies on how to fully maximise the court’s ruling, which they termed “declarative.”
But a source said that Speaker Aminu Tambuwal urged the parties to sheathe their swords in the interest of Nigerians.
According to the source, the Speaker was of the opinion that heating up the polity would not augur well for democracy, adding that the country was going through challenges and it was necessary to close ranks and find solutions to them.
In the House, there was tension, as members of the PDP taunted APC members on the corridors of the National Assembly. While the APC members insisted that the ruling would not hold, the PDP members joked that their counterparts should start packing their luggage.
The APC members also held a strategy meeting convened in the morning by Osagie. It was to prepare them for any development.
