A Chairman of the Editorial Board of National Newspapers, Mr Chris Akiri on Monday noted that the seats of elected government officials that decamp from one political party to the other before the end of their tenure should be declared vacant.
He however pointed that this can only be possible if the carpet crossing is not as a result of a division in the party.
“the constitution is very clear on this issue. If you look at Section 68 for example, for the National Assembly and Section 109 for State Houses of Assembly, the provisions are very clear that if you decamp during the period for which you were elected to office before the lapse of that period then your seat will be declared vacant.
“But there is a proviso; which is provided that if the carpet crossing is not as a result of a division in the party on whose platform you came to office” he said.
He berated the division in the interpretation of the law as stated in the constitution noting that one should not be a perpetrator of such divisions insisting that “no good cause can derive from a bad cause”.
On the governors elected on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) but decamped to the All Progressives Congress (APC), the legal practitioner said “there is no need to go to court” adding that “they (governors) are not affected because the constitution doesn’t say so.”
He described the type of politics being practiced in Nigeria as a mercenary type insisting that “we jump from pillar to post for selfish interest”.
He added that if “we envision a slight failure on the part of our political party, we jump (to the other) because we would rather belong to a winning camp, a camp that is more likely to win than this party” noting that “it doesn’t happen anywhere”.
He cited the “Conservative and Labour Parties in United Kingdom, the Democrats and Republicans in the United States of America” as role models for our politicians to follow because “you don’t hear things like this” insisting that “they sink or swim with their parties”.
Mr Ikiri, who appeared as a guest on Channels Television’s flagship breakfast show, Sunrise Daily, also called on the National Assembly to focus on things that affects the nation and not on selfish interests.
