— Says it has no business with the defection of Assembly members, until court establishes the position of the law
— Urges resigning members to address their letters to the Clerk of the Assembly, not INEC
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has finally broke its silence on the controversy trailing the status of the members of the Rivers State House of Assembly that crossed from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Commission’s chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, who formally reacted to it in his remarks at the second quarterly consultative meeting with media organisations held in Abuja on Wednesday, stated that the commission is waiting for the law courts to make pronouncement on their positions before taking an appropriate steps.
Yakubu further explained that there are 32 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly elected during the 2023 general election, emphasising that the commission has no business with the resignation of the Assembly members.
While urging those resigning to address their letters to the Clerk of the Assembly not INEC, Yakubu said: “32 members were elected in the last general election into Rivers State House of Assembly. We have been bombarded with letters from those emerging as Speakers and even the PDP urging us to declare their seats vacant.
“INEC has no business with anybody resigning from the State House of Assembly. He should direct his letter of resignation to the Clerk of the House of Assembly. In one day, I received three letters but it is not our duty,” he said.
The electoral umpire boss further admitted that the commission is aware that the matters are in courts and will wait for the pronouncement of the courts to act accordingly.
“Our position remains that where matters are in Courts, we wait for judgments before taking steps. We are not the Courts so it’s not our responsibility to interprete cases. It is when Courts have given judgments that we now do what we as the electoral body should do, but untill such happens, we will not take any step that is not our constitutional responsibility.
“The National Assembly make laws, the judiciary interprets the laws so, it is not our duty to do that. It is within the Courts pronouncement we act,” he emphasised.
