Defection: Sen Abaribe’s seat should be declared vacant – Bamidele

Leader of the Nigerian Senate, Opeyemi Bamidele, has said that the seat of Abia South senator, Enyinnaya Abaribe, should be declared vacant if he is no longer a member of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA.

Bamidele said this on Thursday during plenary when Abaribe and eight other senators dumped their parties for the African Democratic Congress, ADC.

DAILY POST had reported that at least nine senators from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Labour Party, LP, and the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, defected to the ADC.

Reacting, the Senate Leader said, “I’m not just a lawyer, by the grace of God, I’m a life bencher. I know this law and I know what I’m talking about. Section 68(1b) had envisaged the situation that Senator Abaribe is in today.

“It says any other circumstance that’s including being served by a political party that would have made you ineligible for election as a member. It is very clear.

“Again, I still say it, let us give Senator Abaribe an opportunity to withdraw his letter, and then we continue to see how we can manage having him in this chamber.

“today, he’s not a member of any political party. He’s not part of the majority, he’s not part of the minority side, unless we are going to create a third aisle for people who don’t belong to either the majority or the minority, which the constitution has said must not happen.”