Date: 2014-04-03

A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara Sstate, John Dara, has called on members of the House of Representatives, who have left the party for another one, to honourably vacate their seats after an Abuja High Court had declared that they ought not to maintain the seats.

Dara, who spoke in an interview with newsmen, shortly after he registered at his ward in his hometown, Ipee in Oyun Local Government Area of Kwara State in the on-going PDP membership registration, described the court verdict as a confirmation of the dictates of the law on the matter.

He argued that it was the position of the law that when a lawmaker defected without existence of factions in the party that sponsored his election, as the members of the House of Representatives and their colleagues in the Senate did, he ought to cease to be a member of the legislative house.

“That is the law. The court has only pronounced the obvious,” he stated.

The politician further argued that all those who were elected on the platform of the party and who have defected to another party including governors and members of a state House of Assembly ought to vacate their seats.

“If you are elected on the platform of any party and that party is not factionalised, and you will leave you should be gentlemanly or willing enough to resign you position because you must count the costs before you take such a decision,” he stated.

The PDP chieftain said that there was no faction within the party before those who defected to another party took the decision.

He said the people attempted to cause a faction within the party to find an excuse for the defection they were planning but did not succeed in factionalising the party.