The Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that its members in the National Assembly who have defected would lose their seats.
The party stated that it would rely on the clear decisions of cases decided in the Supreme Court over such defections, vowing that it will declare as vacant the legislative seats of PDP members who defect to another party.
Two members of the PDP in the National Assembly, Hon. Tony Nwoye (Anambra) and Hon. Emmanuel Udende (Benue), recently dumped the party for the governing All Progressives Congress (APC), but the PDP is ready to contest the matter.
A statement by the secretary of the BoT, Ojo Maduekwe, said: “Any suggestion of a faction is at best ill-informed and ignorant, and at worst, is part of a grand plan to decimate the only political platform today that is ready, experienced and able to honour the nation’s invitation to have a credible opposition party – that will hold government of the day accountable and thereby strengthen and nourish our young democracy.
“Let it therefore be understood by those of our members in the National Assembly who may be tempted to jump ship, or have already jumped, that on the basis of clear decisions of cases decided in the Supreme Court, they stand the risk of losing their seats in Parliament if they went ahead with their latest indulgence.
“Our party will insist on a declaration of vacancy and subsequent elections in affected constituencies in the event of such misguided defections.
“The pattern of PDP electoral victories all over the federation since the 2015 general elections shows that where there is election arising from such vacancies, PDP will return a more credible and more loyal representative of the people.”
