Lawyers have reacted to the plan by Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying it was a moral rather than constitutional issue.
Daily Trust had exclusively reported that Matawalle, who became governor of Zamfara State following a Supreme Court judgement on the controversies that rocked the APC primaries for the 2019 general elections, had concluded plans to join APC.
The planned defection had heightened tension among APC top shots in the state.
Reports have it that the defection is being spearheaded by a former governor of the state, Senator Ahmed Sani Yarima, along with three governors who are members of the APC.
But, Abdulaziz Yari, a former governor of Zamfara State had at the weekend told Matawalle that he would lose his seat if he decamped, going by the Supreme Court judgement that brought him into power in 2019.
Reacting, Dayo Akinlaja (SAN) said the issue of crossing to another party bordered on moral issues, which the party and individual should resolve.
He, however, added that the governor losing his office as provided in Section 68(g) of the Constitution may not arise as is the case with lawmakers.
“I think it is a moral issue,” he said.
Also reacting, Yunus Ustaz Usman (SAN) said he had participated in constitution drafting and that when the issue of making a person sponsored by a party who defected to lose their seats was rejected by people in the National Assembly.
“They reasoned that because of the position they occupy, that should not be toyed with within that period of four years because it could detract from the performance of the office,” he said.
“So, it was done for the House of Representatives and Senate, that if you leave your office, you lose your seat. Same thing with state Houses of Assembly but the governor is left intact.”
Also reacting, Nnamdi Ahaiwe Esq said the proposed defection is wrong but has become the norm with “so many precedents.”
The Supreme Court, in voiding all votes cast for the APC in the 2019 elections in Zamfara State, unanimously held that the party in the state failed to conduct primaries in accordance with the party rules.
In the lead judgment by Justice Paul Adamu Galinji, the apex court held that all votes cast for the APC were “wasted votes” and declared that all political parties with the second-highest lawful votes in the elections and the required spread, are elected to the various elections.
The former governor Abdulaziz Yari’s faction of the APC, which emerged after the October 3, 2018 primary of the party, had in the appeal by its lawyer, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), asked the apex court to set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Sokoto in an appeal by the Senator Kabiru Garba Marafa-led faction of the party challenging the outcome of the primary.
The verdict caused the APC to lose all positions it fielded candidates under the Yari faction of the party in the governorship, national and state assembly elections.
In February, the Yari and Marafa camps reconciled following the intervention of the chairman of the APC caretaker committee, Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State.
