WHY SHOULD THE SEATS OF 27 RIVERS LAWMAKERS BE DECLARED VACANT – LP

The Labour Party (LP) has demanded that the seats of the 27 Rivers State House of Assembly members who defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) be declared vacant.

Hilda Dokubo, the Rivers State LP Chairperson, revealed this in a statement on Monday, hours after 27 lawmakers defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC.

Dokubo demanded that the lawmakers’ seats be declared empty immediately and that a new election be held to fill the vacancies because the defection was unlawful.

“The provision is clear about the fate of those legislators who betrayed the party that sponsored them,” she explained.

Labour thus requests that the Speaker of the House immediately proclaim the 27 seats vacant.

“The political elite ought to understand that they are no longer able to ride roughshod over the parties and voters who supported them.

“The people of Rivers State will have the chance to choose their real representatives through new elections.”