20 Cross River lawmakers appeal against judgement sacking them from office

 

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The 20 lawmakers of the Cross River State House of Assembly sacked by the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday have appealed against the judgement declaring their seats vacant.

They equally filed an application at the court for an order to stay execution of the judgement. They jointly filed the application for stay of execution along with two members of the House of Representatives from the state who were also sacked by the court on Monday.

The Federal High Court judge in Abuja, Taiwo Taiwo, had ruled on Monday that the 20 lawmakers along with the two House of Representatives members were deemed to have lost their seats following their defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) last year.

The judge delivered the judgement on a suit filed by the PDP, on whose platform the legislators were elected in 2019 before defecting to the APC in 2021.

Angered by the gale of defection, the PDP had instituted the suit in a move to reclaim what it considered to be its mandate taken to a rival party by the defecting legislators.

In his judgement on Monday, the judge, citing sections 168 (1) (g) and 109 (1) (g) of the Nigerian constitution, declared the seats of the legislators vacant and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct elections to fill in the sacked legislators’ seats within 90 days.

But in a notice of appeal filed Monday, the appellants’ lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, urged the Court of Appeal to set aside the lower court’s judgment.