The Ebonyi State House of Assembly has declared the seats of three lawmakers of State Assembly elected under the platform of Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) vacant.
Their seats were declared vacant following a letter of resignation purportedly written by the three lawmakers resigning from their seats.
Speaker of the House, Francis Nwifuru read the letter during an emergency plenary of the House in Nkaliki
The motion for the declaration of their seats vacant was moved by Onah Chinedu (Ohaukwu South) and seconded by Igwe Chukwuma representing Onicha West Constituency. The motion was thereafter put into vote to the 15 All Party (APC) Lawmakers that attended the sitting.
The three lawmakers whose seats were declared vacant were Ali Okechukwu (Ishielu North), Franca Okpo (Abakaliki North) and Victor Aleke (Ebonyi North West). The three lawmakers and their other five PDP colleagues were absent during plenary.
The Speaker further ordered the clerk to write to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) notifying the commission of the development and the need to conduct fresh elections in the affected constituencies.
“The Clerk of the House is to make a memo to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to tell them of the vacancies that occurred as a result of the resignation of some of our distinguished honourable members of the house of Assembly, ranging from Hon. Victor Aleke, Ali Ikechukwu Kizito and Hon. Franca Okpo, informing them of the vacancies and also tell them to consider conducting election to have a representative in the hallowed chamber.
“The House has done so well this year, and they need some opportunities to go and pursue their primary objectives, even the forthcoming primary election. We need to work with our constituents very effectively, based on the electoral acts that was signed into law. The primaries will start by 4th April 2022. “Based on that, we need to give ourselves little time to go back to constituency, and tell your constituents what you have been able to do.
But in a shift reaction, the three Lawmakers involved maintained that they are still members of the House of Assembly.
Speaking on their behalf in a statement in Abakaliki Mr Victor Aleke described the actions of the speaker and the APC lawmakers as illegal.
According to him, the Speaker and the other APC Lawmakers having been sacked by the Federal High Court in Abuja have ceased to be lawmakers and should not have sat in the first place.
He said; “Recall on 8th March 2022, the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja in a declaratory judgement sacked the Ebonyi State Speaker and 15 lawmakers for defecting to APC and that judgement still stands”
