A Federal High Court in Abuja, has ordered former Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, to vacate his seat as a member representing Dass, Tafawa Balewa and Bogoro Federal Constituency of Bauchi State.
Gatekeepers News reports that the Presiding Judge, Justice Donatus Okorowo, declared that Dogara having defected from Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to All Progressives Congress, APC, was no longer qualified to occupy the seat by virtue of Section 68(1)(g) of the constitution.
Okorowo aligned with the argument of the PDP 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 judge, who held that the action of the lawmaker is prohibited by law, agreed that the aim of Section 68(1)(g) was to check political prostitution among the legislators.
“The judgment is therefore given in favour of the plaintiffs I hereby granted the reliefs sought by the plaintiffs,” he 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.
Other defendants are the Attorney General of the Federation, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the APC as 1st to 4th defendants respectively.
