The Ebonyi State House of Assembly, on Tuesday, declared the seats of three members elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party vacant.
This is as a result of the letters of resignation purported to have been written by the three lawmakers.
The Speaker of the House, Francis Nwifuru, read the letters during an emergency sitting of the House on Tuesday.
The affected lawmakers are Ali Okechukwu (Ishielu North); Franca Okpo (Abakaliki North); and Victor Aleke (Ebonyi West).
The affected lawmakers and five of their PDP colleagues were not present at the sitting, while 15 House members of the All Progressive Party attended the sitting.
Nwifuru, after reading the alleged letters of resignation on the floor of the House, declared the seats of the three lawmakers vacant.
He ordered the Clerk to write to the Independent National Electoral Commission to notify it of the development and the need to conduct fresh elections in the affected constituencies.
But the three PDP lawmakers maintained that they were still members of the state House of Assembly.
Speaking on their behalf in a telephone interview, Aleke described the action of the Speaker and the APC lawmakers as illegal.
According to him, the Speaker and the other APC lawmakers, having been sacked by the Federal High Court in Abuja, had ceased to be lawmakers and should not have sat in the first place.
Aleke stated, “What they have done today by purporting to sit and declaring our seats vacant amounts to contempt of court and the court may declare them wanted if care is not taken.
“We have no reason whatsoever to resign our seats. We are still lawmakers representing our various constituencies and we enjoin our supporters and the general public to disregard what they have done.”
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