IGP and AGF Say Tambuwal is no Longer Speaker of House of Representatives after Defection
The newly confirmed Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba and the Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke, have said the security details of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, were rightfully seized since his defection means he is no longer a member of the House.
Abba and Adoke, in response to a suit by Tambuwal and the All Progressives Congress, said the speaker who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the APC, forfeited his office upon his defection.
Tambuwal and his new party filed the suit before Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court, Abuja, to challenge the withdrawal of his security details, claiming that the PDP meant to declare his seat as speaker vacant.
The counter affidavit offered by the AGF and IGP through their lawyers, said: “The 1st plaintiff (Tambuwal) vacated his seat in the House of Representatives as a member of that House, when he became a member of the 2nd plaintiff (All Progressive Congress) in October 2014, having been elected in 2011mon the platform of the 1st defendant (PDP).
“The seat of the 1st plaintiff in the House of Representatives became automatically vacant by virtue of his defection to the 2nd plaintiff (APC) and consequently ceased to be the Speaker of the 3rd defendant (the House of Representatives).
“The first plaintiff is not constitutionally entitled to security details and as such, the 5th defendant did not contravene any law by its withdrawal of the 1st plaintiff’s security details. The withdrawal of the security details of the 1st plaintiff was necessitated by the fact the he had vacated his office as a member of the House of Reps and consequently ceased to be the Speaker of the 3rd defendant.
“The 1st plaintiff is no longer a member of the House of Representatives and as such not entitled to any right or privilege attached to the office of the Speaker of the 3rd defendant. That, the 1st plaintiff, as an ordinary citizen of Nigeria, was not exposed to any danger of bodily harm because of the withdrawal of his security details.”
