A former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara has been ordered by a Federal High Court in Abuja to vacate his seat as a member representing Dass, Tafawa Balewa and Bogoro federal constituency of Bauchi state.
Justice Donatus Okorowo, in a judgement on Friday, declared that having defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to All Progressives Congress, Dogara was no longer qualified to occupy the seat by virtue of Section 68(1)(g) of the constitution.
Justice Okorowo aligned with the argument of the PDP (plaintiff) that by defecting from the party that sponsored him to the ninth National Assembly before the expiration of his tenure, Dogara ought to vacate the seat as he was no longer qualified to partake in the activities of the lower House.
“The judgment is therefore given in favour of the plaintiffs I hereby granted the reliefs sought by the plaintiffs,” the judge declared.
The PDP and one of its members in Bauchi State had, in a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1060/20, sued Dogara, the speaker of the House of Representatives, the Attorney General of the Federation, Independent National Electoral Commission and the APC as 1st to 4th defendants respectively.
Justice Okorowo had, earlier in another judgment, dismissed the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/883/30 and filed by Incorporated Trustees of United Global Resources for Peace Organisation against Dogara, and five others on the grounds that the group lacked locus standi to institute the matter.
Judgments, in the two separate suits filed against Dogara, were stalled due to the FHC’s Easter vacation which began on April 8 and would end April 25.
The plaintiff, through their counsel, Jubrin Jubrin, said by virtue of section 68(1)(g) of the Constitution, by Dogara defecting from the party that sponsored him to the ninth National Assembly before the expiration of his tenure, he ought to vacate the seat as he was no longer qualified to partake in the activities of the lower House.
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