The Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly has sacked two lawmakers who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the Young Progressive Party (YPP).
Speaker of the Assembly, Aniekan Bassey, announced the sacking of the lawmakers during Tuesday’s plenary.
The affected lawmakers are Usoro Akpanuso (Esit Eket/Ibeno Constituency) and Asuquo Nana (Ikono Constituency).
Their sacking contrasts with how the assembly, some months ago, put up a ceremonial reception for another lawmaker, Effiong Johnson (Mbo Constituency), when he defected from the All Progressives Congress to the PDP.
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The PDP recently rewarded Mr Johnson with a return ticket for the 2023 Akwa Ibom House of Assembly election.
Sacked lawmaker reacts
Speaking to PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday, one of the sacked lawmakers, Mr Akpanuso, said they have not communicated their defection to the House.
“We are supposed to write to the House and the speaker will announce it on the floor of the House, stating why we are defecting,” he said.
Mr Akpanuso said the speaker has no right to declare their seat vacant when they have not informed the House of their defection.
He, however, said there was a crisis in the PDP, and pointed at the current agitation for the PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu’s resignation by a group led by the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike.
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Mr Akpanuso told our reporters they would challenge their sack in court.
The other sacked lawmaker, Mr Nana, is in Canada, attending a parliamentary conference.
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The YPP is slowly gathering momentum in Akwa Ibom since Bassey Albert, a senator, left PDP to join the party, and later became its governorship candidate in the state.
The spokesperson of the House, Aniefiok Dennis, told PREMIUM TIMES that Mr Akpanuso’s argument that the speaker had received no communication yet from him (Akpanuso) and Mr Nana was inconsequential as far as the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria is concerned.
When asked why Mr Johnson’s seat was not declared vacant when he defected from APC to PDP, Mr Dennis said “there was a division in APC, at the federal, state, chapter, and at the ward level”.
Similar incident occurred in 2018 when the then speaker, Onofiok Luke, sacked four lawmakers for defecting from the PDP to the APC.
About five lawmakers lost their seats during Mr Luke’s tenure after their defection to a new political party.
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