Dogara In Trouble, As PDP Asks Court To Declare His Seat Vacant |The Source

By Akinwale Kasali

Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara is in troubled waters. His former Party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is asking the Court to declare his Seat in the House of Representatives vacant.

The party is calling for the sack of the former Speaker for defecting to the All Progressives Congress, APC, while still keeping the mandate of the party.

At the resumed hearing of the suit on Monday, the lawyer to the plaintiffs, Jibril Jibril, urged the court to abridge the time for the hearing of the suit owing to the fact that Dogara is already enjoying legislative privileges as a member of the House of Representatives.

Justice Okon Abang, after listening to the lawyers to the defendants who did not oppose the application to abridge time fixed February 14, 2021, for hearing.

Dogara, who is representing Dass, Tafawa Balewa, and Bogoro Federal Constituency of Bauchi State, defected from the APC to the PDP before the last General election and won re-election to the house on the platform of the PDP.

The PDP and its Bauchi State  Chairman, Hamza Koshe Akuyam, listed as plaintiffs in the suit, are contending, among others, that by virtue of section 68(1)(g) of the constitution,  Dogara ought to vacate the seat for defecting from the party that sponsored him to the ninth national assembly before the expiration of his tenure.

The plaintiffs claim that the former Speaker was no longer qualified to partake in the activities of the House of Representatives while still using his former party’s ticket.

Dogara was Speaker under the PDP Government. He defected to the APC, but defected again to the PDP just before the 2019 General election, and won his seat. But, a few months ago, he inexplicably defected again to the APC. It is the seat that the PDP wants back.