House of Assembly declares lawmaker’s seat vacant for leaving APC

The Niger House of Assembly on Wednesday declared the seat of the member representing Tafa constituency, Danladi Iyah, vacant.

Iyah had announced his resignation from APC in a letter read on the floor of the House by the Speaker, Alhaji Ahmed Marafa.

According to the letter, Iyah said he was leaving the APC due to ‘untold hostility’ during the period of his membership of the party.

He explained that the hostility snowballed into his suspension in June 2018 and all efforts to get the suspension lifted were futile and claimed he was not given a fair hearing.

The decision to declare his seat vacant was sequel to a letter sent to the House by the State Chairman of the APC, Alhaji Jibril Imam, backed by a motion moved by Bala Abba (Borgu, APC) and seconded by Mohammed Haruna (Bida II, APC).

Abba noted that constitutionally, a member could only leave his party if there was a division, adding that the reason given by the lawmaker for his resignation from the APC was not tenable.

“The only ground on which a member can leave his party is if there is a division within that party.

“And since there is no division in the APC and he is leaving, his seat should be declared vacant,’’ he added.

The House thereafter unanimously resolved to declare the member’s seat vacant through a voice vote.

When contacted, the embattled lawmaker said he would take legal action to challenge the decision of the House.

He said there was division at the national and the local government levels of his party, adding that those were enough reasons for him to leave.

Iyah wondered how the House could take such action when he has not formally written to it but had only notified them of his resignation.

According to him, the letter read on the floor was the one he wrote to his party at the Local Government, which was copied to the House without his knowledge.

In a related development, Gov. Abubakar Bello has presented a supplementary budget of N10.205 billion to the House for legislative consideration through a correspondence read by the Speaker.