The Chairman Editorial Board of National Daily Newspapers, Chris Akiri, is in ecstasy over the ruling of the Federal High Court which directs the 37 lawmakers who defected from the PDP to the APC to resign.
He said that the judgement meant that the 37 defectors were no longer going to be in the House, let alone partake in any of its proceedings, which implies that they cannot achieve their purported plan to change the leadership of the House.
On the possibility of the case being dragged for long owing to series of appeals and counter-suits, he explained that there were two types of judgment; the ‘executory’ which states the position of the law and also states the action that should follow while there is also the ‘declaratory’ which only states the position of the law. He noted that this ruling falls in the executory category.
Akiri said, “You cannot benefit from your wrong, the law says.”
The language of the Judge was also brought to the fore, as the judge said the lawmakers “ought to resign honourably” with emphasis on ‘ought to’ which may have seemed more advisory than authoritative. Akiri explained that the use of the word was mainly to tell them that they should have done that from the onset, since they were not eligible to participate in the proceedings.
“But having not resigned (when you should have) this is our judicial position”, He explained.
The decision of some PDP Senators to also move to defect to the APC has been hampered by the leadership of the Senate and Mr Akiri stated that this judgment tells them that they cannot move. He added that they have the Senate President to thank for keeping their seats.
On the possibility of the Senators remaining in the PDP yet doing things in line with the opposition, which may be termed to be anti-party activities leading to a sack from the party, Akiri said that the latest judgement cannot be used against them as long as they do not voluntarily defect from the party.
Akiri, citing a section of the Nigerian Constitution, noted that in Nigeria, the eligibility of any person to be in an elective position is subject to his membership of and sponsorship by a political party, a statement that means that in Nigeria “we vote for parties not personalities”
He added that the lawmakers must respect the position of the court and expects that henceforth, whimsicality and caprice in politics would be gone forever. He wants to see discipline among politicians, whereby they stay loyal to their political parties.
