By Ugochukwu Alaribe
Lawmakers elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the Abia State House of Assembly has handed a 90 day ultimatum to the Labour Party led legislature to revert to the harmonized standing orders and rules of House over the position of principal officers.
PDP has 11 members ,LP 10 while the YPP and APC produced 2 and 1 members, respectively.
The lawmakers insisted that it should produce the Majority Leader, Deputy Majority Leader, Chief whip and deputy minority whip of the House since it has the highest number of lawmakers in the Assembly.
The PDP members protested the announcement and have continued to walk out of the sittings of the House.
The Speaker of the Assembly,Hon. Emmanuel Emeruwa, had at a sitting of the House, announced members of the Labour Party as majority leader,Deputy majority leader, chief whip and deputy chief whip.
In the three-month pre action notice addressed to the clerk, Abia State House of Assembly, Mr. Johnpedro Irokansi, and signed by Counsel to the PDP members, Igwe Ogwo Esq; the PDP vowed to recover the majority leadership positions.
The PDP lawmakers stated that the Speaker declined to announce the names of the nominated members of the PDP sent to him by the state Chairman of PDP, chief Asiforo Okere ,as the majority party.
They said the speaker rather read out the minority Labour Party as the majority party in the House.
The pre action notice read; “This is an utter breach and violation of the extant and crystally clear provisions of Order 8, Rule 42(1), 43(1), and 45(1) of the harmonized standing orders (rules of the Abia State House of Assembly) and an affront to our democratic tenets, spirit and the law.
“The Speaker should revert to the order of the House which allows the majority party to occupy the Majority Leader’s position. The failure, refusal or neglect to comply with the legal pre action notice. We invite the court to interpret the legal import purport of the provisions of the already referred harmonized standing orders (Rules of the Abia State House of Assembly). The PDP members wants the court to interpret the meaning of: ”he shall be a member nominated from the party with the highest number of members in the House”.
“A declaration that PDP is the majority party in the state House of Assembly as presently constituted. A declaration that the respondent cannot validly be nominated and/or appointed a majority leader of he is not a member of the PDP as the majority party.
“A declaration that only a member of the majority party (PDP) can be nominated and appointed as the Deputy Majority Leader of the Abia state House of Assembly.
“A declaration that the purported nomination and/or appointment of the Minority members as Majority Leader, Deputy Majority Leader, Chief Whip and Deputy Chief Whip of ABHA on 30th Day of June 2023 is unconstitutional, invalid, null and void and constitutes a breach of the ABHA.”
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