Politics

Rivers Lawmakers That Defected Have Lost Their Seats – Lawyer

Published

2 years ago

December 12, 2023

A foremost lawyer, Kalu Kalu said the 27 lawmakers from Rivers State who defected from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC have lost their seats in parliament.

Kalu stated this in an interview on Arise Television on Tuesday.

He said, “The 27 affected constituencies, their seats are already vacant, going by the provision of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as uttered…

“Once you defect from the political party from which you won election, to another political party before the expiration of the house upon which you were elected, that you automatically lose that seat. So, there is no need for any institution to declare that seat vacant.”

The lawyer noted that the law states that an elected official can only defect from his party to another during the course of his term if there is a leadership struggle within the party.

Kalu said, “The proviso in section 109-1g is clear that if there is a division in the party upon which the member came to the house in question, that the person has the right to move to another political party.

“The question here now is, is there a division or a split in PDP? And the answer is clear that there is no division in PDP.

“Yesterday, PDP came out with a position that they are against what happened in Rivers State, and today, there is no conflicting or dissenting opinion from another quarter or from another group in PDP saying that what honourable Debo said is not the position of PDP.

“Even in Rivers State as we talk, there is only one PDP in Rivers State, and there is no other faction of PDP in Rivers State. At the national level, there is only one PDP at the national level.”

Kalu referred to the video where the ‘purported’ speaker of Rivers State House of Assembly said that there is no substantive national secretary in the PDP and there are several cases bordering on the identity of the national secretary of PDP.

He said, “That thing is laughable, it is a very lame excuse, and that is not the law says in terms of division or split in the party.

“I can tell you for certain that there is no court process filed by Senator Samuel Anyanwu in all the cases the former speaker or the purported member of Rivers State House of Assembly listed, there is none.”

Kalu further said, “It is only when there is a leadership crisis, when there is a split in the leadership of the party at the national level that you can now say that there is a split.

“But as we speak today, PDP is conducting its affairs without any faction in anywhere in the country, precisely at the national level and at the Rivers State level. So, there’s no split, there’s no division in the PDP, and I stand to be quoted wrong.”

He said that all INEC needs to do is to begin the process of conducting bye-elections into the empty seats.

Politics

Tinubu Sends Ex-INEC Chair, Former Oyo First Lady, 30 Additional Ambassadorial Nominees To Senate

Published

2 days ago

November 29, 2025

Editor

President Bola Tinubu has forwarded 32 additional ambassadorial nominees to the Senate for confirmation, just days after submitting an initial batch of three names.

In two separate letters to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, the President urged the upper chamber to consider and swiftly confirm 15 career diplomats and 17 non-career nominees.

The list includes four women among the career nominees and six women among the non-career nominees.

Prominent names on the non-career list include Barrister Ogbonnaya Kalu from Abia State; former presidential aide, Reno Omokri (Delta); former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmud Yakubu; former Ekiti First Lady, Erelu Angela Adebayo; and former Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.

Others are former Speaker of the Katsina State House of Assembly, Tasiu Musa Maigari; former Plateau State Commissioner, Yakubu N. Gambo; and former Deputy Executive Secretary of UBEC, Yakubu K. Musa.

Also nominated are former Plateau senator, Prof. Nora Ladi Daduut; former Lagos Deputy Governor, Otunba Femi Pedro; former Aviation Minister, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode; and Barrister Nkechi Linda Ufochukwu from Anambra State.

Additional nominees include former Oyo First Lady, Fatima Florence Ajimobi; former Lagos Commissioner, Lola Akande; former Adamawa senator, Grace Bent; former Abia governor, Victor Okezie Ikpeazu; Senator Jimoh Ibrahim of Ondo State; and former envoy to the Holy See, Ambassador Paul Oga Adikwu (Benue).

The career ambassadorial nominees are Enebechi Monica Okwuchukwu (Abia), Yakubu Nyaku Danladi (Taraba), Miamuna Ibrahim Besto (Adamawa), Musa Musa Abubakar (Kebbi), Syndoph Paebi Endoni (Bayelsa), Chima Geoffrey Lioma David (Ebonyi), and Mopelola Adeola-Ibrahim (Ogun).

Others include Abimbola Samuel Reuben (Ondo), Yvonne Ehinosen Odumah (Edo), Hamza Mohammed Salau (Niger), Ambassador Shehu Barde (Katsina), Ambassador Ahmed Mohammed Monguno (Borno), Ambassador Muhammad Saidu Dahiru (Kaduna), Ambassador Olatunji Ahmed Sulu Gambari (Kwara), and Ambassador Wahab Adekola Akande (Osun).

The new nominees are expected to be deployed to countries with which Nigeria maintains strong and strategic diplomatic relations, including China, India, South Korea, Canada, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, South Africa, and Kenya, as well as to Permanent Missions such as the United Nations, UNESCO, and the African Union.

Their specific postings will be determined after Senate confirmation.

Recall that President Tinubu, last week, forwarded three ambassadorial nominees, Ambassador Ayodele Oke (Oyo), Ambassador Amin Mohammed Dalhatu (Jigawa), and retired Colonel Lateef Kayode Are (Ogun), who are being considered for postings to the UK, USA, or France.

President Tinubu said additional ambassadorial nominations will be announced in due course.

Politics

Soludo Visits Tinubu, Goes Into Closed Door Session With President

Published

4 days ago

November 28, 2025

Editor

Anambra State Governor, Prof Chukwuma Charles Soludo, on Thursday, paid a courtesy visit to the President, Bola Tinubu, GCFR at the State House.

Report by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Soludo, Mr Chris Aburime stated that President Tinubu received the Anambra State Governor with excitement, describing him as his long standing friend of over 22 years.

Aburime said, “The President used the occasion to further congratulate Governor Soludo on his landslide victory in the just concluded Anambra gubernatorial election.

“Recall that President Tinubu had earlier issued a congratulatory message to Governor Soludo immediately the governorship election was concluded.”

Governor Soludo was declared winner with 73% of the votes cast by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
Other details of the meeting were, however, not disclosed as the press Secretary told DAILY POST that both men went into a closed door meeting after the reception.

Politics

2027: I Will Resign If Tinubu Loses In Edo – Governor Okpebholo

Published

4 days ago

November 28, 2025

Editor

Edo State Governor Monday Okpebholor has vowed that President Bola Tinubu will win the 2027 presidential election in Edo State.

Okpebholor in an interview captured in a viral video vowed to resign if the outcome of the 2027 election does not favour the president in Edo State.

According to him, the entire people in Edo State are ready to vote for the president, citing projects that his (Okpebholor) administration executed since the All Progressives Congress, APC took over the state.

He claimed that there is no opposition in the state, stressing that everyone is supporting the ruling party ahead of the 2027 elections.

He said, “There is no opposition here in Edo everybody is for Asiwaju in this state.

“Tinubu is more popular than me in Edo state. If he doesn’t win the presidential election in Edo in 2027, I will resign.”