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You lack power to declare seat vacant – PDP tells Niger Assembly

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The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on Thursday, said that the Niger State House of Assembly lacked the power to declare the seat of a member vacant without first investigating the reasons for the lawmaker’s action.

The party, therefore, ordered the lawmakers to immediately reverse its decision declaring the seat of the member representing Tafa constituency, Danladi Iyah, vacant.

The party said in a statement signed by its Chairman, Tanko Beji, that if the decision was not reversed within two weeks, it would have no option than to seek redress in the court.

Following a letter from the state chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Jibrin Imam, the Assembly at its sitting on Wednesday unanimously declared the seat of Danladi Iyah vacant after he (Iyah) had written to the APC resigning his membership of the party.

The PDP in its reaction to the lawmakers’ decision said, “We want to quickly say that the action of the Assembly is not only illegal but unconstitutional and should not stand.

“The Assembly does not have the power to declare the seat of a member vacant without first investigating the reasons why the legislator took the action he took. Worse still, the Assembly did not act on any decision of a court of competent jurisdiction or directive of the Independent National Electoral Commission,” Beji said.