Senators who defect to other parties will lose seats - Ita Enang

 •You're on your own - Senate

Senator Ita Enang

Sen. Ita Enang (PDP-Akwa Ibom) has said that senators who defect from one political party to another will lose their seats as the law does not allow anyone who defects to retain the seat.

Enang made the assertion on Thursday in Abuja while speaking with newsmen.

The senator explained that while it was acceptable for politicians to defect to another party, it was unacceptable for them to retain their seats.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that some senators on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) promised to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC) when the senate resumed from its recess.

NAN also recalls that 37 PDP members of the House of Representatives had defected to the APC in 2013, citing division in the party as their reason.

Enang said that the law clearly mandated that any member intending to defect to another party must prove that there was a division in the member's current party or the party had merged.

According to him, there is currently no division in the PDP as declared by the court, adding that members of the PDP intending to defect have no ground upon which to defect.

"A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja and presided over by Justice Elvis Chukwu had ruled on Oct. 18, 2013, that there was no division in the PDP," he said.

Enang also cited the case of one Mr Ifedayo Abegunde in Akure North/Akure South Constituency, who lost his seat after defecting from the Labour Party in 2012.

The senator said: "The court upheld the contention that the lawmaker did not prove a division or faction within the Labour Party."

He said that defection would be legal only if the judgement of the court was set aside and the members could provide proof that there was, indeed, a division in the party.

"Section 68 (1) (g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, provides that a member of the Senate or of the House of Representatives shall vacate his seat in the House of which he is a member.

"This shall happen if being a person whose election to the House was sponsored by a political party."