DEFECTION: APC Says Court Judgement On 37 Lawmaers Unconstitutional
The All Progressives Congress has called the judgement on 37 lawmakers unconstitutional and said it would appeal it.
The party made its position known in a statement issued on Tuesday by its Interim National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed.
On Monday, an Abuja Federal High Court ordered the 37 lawmakers of the House of Representatives to vacant their seats for defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC.
APC said that Justice Ademola was not competent to issue such a ruling.
Mohammed said the party was going to appeal the court's verdict.
Previously the Minority Leader, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila expressed the intention of the party to appeal the judgement.
Justice Ademola, while delivering judgement in a suit filed by the PDP, stated that the lawmakers no longer had any business, morally and legally, to stay in the House of Representatives.
In its statement the APC also asked the Chief Justice of Nigeria to sanction Justice Ademola for engaging in mischief that could bring the bench into disrepute.
"[I]t is highly unprofessional and unethical for one Judge to delve into a matter that is sub judice in another court. A Judge should not make comments on matters being litigated in another court. The question of seats being vacated or otherwise is being heard by Justice Ahmed Mohammed in the Federal High Court in Abuja who, on 29 March 2014, said the issue was still live before him and is not ripe for Judgment."
The APC also recalled the alarm it had raised in a statement on December 14. Back then the party had said that the PDP had been shopping for a pliant judge who would be heavily induced to do its bidding in the case over the defections from the ruling party to the APC.
In its today's statement, the APC warned against any attempt by the PDP and the Presidency to turn back the clock as far as the cleaning up of the judiciary is concerned, by inducing a servile and disreputable Judge to do the duo’s bidding.
The APC said that its alarm had proved to be prophetic and that there might be a link between what it called an exercise in judicial rascality and President Goodluck Jonathan’s recent statement in Kwara that the PDP would soon retrieve its 'stolen' mandate from those who defected from to the APC.
Source: Legit.ng
