THE Kebbi State House of Assembly has declared the seats of its former Speaker, Samaila Kamba, and three other members vacant over their defection from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Other affected members are Muhammad Buhari Aliero, Samaila Salihu Bui and Habibu Labbo Gwandu.
The Clerk of the Assembly, Usman Ahmed Bunza, announced the development after an executive session on Thursday, December 15.
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Kamba was earlier removed as Speaker of the Assembly last year over allegations that he was loyal to a group led by a former governor of the state, Senator Adamu Aliero.
After defecting to the PDP, he was selected as running mate to the party’s governorship candidate in the state.
The clerk, Bunza, in the statement, said the decision to declare the lawmakers’ seats vacant was “in line with Section 109 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”
A few hours before their seats were declared vacant, the four members, in a press statement titled, ‘Enough of Intimidation and Clampdown on Oppositions by Kebbi State Government’, had raised the alarm over plans to suspend them.
According to them, the motive is to silence the opposition particularly the PDP members in the House, through intimidation and financial inducement..
Nurudeen Akewushola is an investigative reporter and fact-checker with The ICIR. He believes courageous in-depth investigative reporting is the key to social justice, accountability and good governance in society. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 on Twitter.