John Adams, Minna
The Niger State House of Assembly has declared the seat of the member representing Tafa Constituency, Hon. Danladi Iyah, vacant over his decision to resign from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.
The decision of the House followed a letter from the state’s Chairman of APC, requesting that the Assembly effect the consequences of the legislator’s resignation from the party, a platform which brought him to the House.
The letter was read on the floor of the House during plenary, on Wednesday.
The APC chairman, in the letter, argued that the reason advanced by the legislator for his resignation was not tenable as it was personal.
“I want the House of Assembly to effect the conditions of section 109 sub section 1(g) of the Nigeria constitution and declare the seat of the member representing Tafa Constituency vacant. His reasons are not justifiable.”
The legislator, had in his letter of resignation to the party chairman, cited the backlash he had continue to suffer as a member of the party.
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The lawmaker did not however state in his letter which party he was leaving APC for, but simply said “I hereby wish to notify you of my intention to resign my membership of the All Progressive Congress (APC) party.
However, when the letter from the APC chairman was thrown to the floor of the House for deliberation, the member representing Borgu Constituency, Hon. Bala Ahmed Abba, aligned himself with the APC chairman, saying that the reasons advanced by the lawmaker for his resignation from the party was not in line with the constitution of Nigeria.
He argued that “declaring his seat vacant is the right thing to do”.
Abba, therefore, moved motion for the seat to be declare vacant in line with section 109 sub section 1(g) of the 1999 constitution.
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The member representing Bida, Hon. Haruna Mohammed seconded the motion.
The Speaker of the Assembly, Ahmed Marafa, then declared the seat vacant directing the Clerk of the Assembly to stop all financial dealings due to the member.
Speaking to the newsmen after the plenary, the Speaker said that it was not a surprise that the affected lawmaker could leave the party, pointing out that “he has shown interest to leave us for long and we tried as brothers to dissuade him from such decision but it seems the more we tried talking to him, the more he was committed in leaving us. It is a decision he had already taken. ”