Disregard Malami’s request to protect anti-Obaseki members-elect— PDP

TRACKING____The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described as “thoughtless, unconstitutional and null and void, “the directive by Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, to the Inspector General of Police to provide security for some Edo State House of Assembly members-elect.

The party, at a press briefing, by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, noted that “nothing in Sections 90, 91, 101 and 104 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) cited by the Attorney General, empowers him to go to the streets of any part of the nation to assemble some clowns and declare them members-elect of any House of Assembly, without any electoral mandate.”

The PDP said these individuals have been absent for 180 days, during which they abandoned their mandate and their seats declared vacant in line with the rules of the legislature and the laws of the federation.

“It is trite in law that with their seats having been declared vacant by the House, they have consequently lost their membership and respective mandates,” the PDP said.

The party further stated that the Attorney General ought to have availed himself of the facts that the state House of Assembly, as constitutionally constituted, had written to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), asking it to conduct fresh elections into the vacant seats in line with the provisions of the Constitution and the Electoral Act…”

“If the AGF had bothered to get his facts correctly before issuing the unconstitutional warrant for the Gestapo operation to the IGP, he would have known that the matter of the declaration of the seats of the errant individuals and the request for the conduct of fresh elections to fill the vacant seats are pending in competent court in Edo State at the instance of his clients and therefore, it is sub-justice for him to speak on it or cause an action to be taken,” Ologbondiyan said.

The PDP reminded Malami and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) that” he does not possess the powers of a competent court and as such, cannot, by any stroke of imagination, make any judicial declaration whatsoever on a matter that is before a court of competent jurisdiction.”

The PDP declared that it rejected the AGF’s directive, which it says was directly responsible for Thursday’s attempt to topple democratic order and the Edo State House of Assembly.

The PDP urged Nigerians to hold Malami responsible, should there be any violence before, during and after the Edo governorship election, arising from the contents of his ill-advised letter.