A Federal High Court in Abuja, Nigeria, on 22nd April 2022, sacked the immediate past Speaker of the country’s Federal House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara from the National Assembly (NASS) and consequently declared his seat vacant.
It’s noteworthy that Mr. Dogara, who currently represents Bogoro/Dass Federal Constituency of Bauchi State, was the Speaker of the House of Reps between 2015 and 2019.
In his verdict, the Judge, D.U. Okorowo ruled that Mr. Dogara’s defection from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) was wrong and meant he should vacate the legislative seat.
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It could be recalled that Mr. Dogara defected to the APC after winning his re-election under the PDP in 2019.
His frosty relationship with his State Governor, Mr. Bala Mohammed, was one of the main reasons he abandoned the PDP, which he joined just recently. He dumped the PDP and returned to his former party, the APC on 24th July 2020.
The erstwhile speaker had earlier in 2018 dumped the ruling party for the main opposition platform due to the political confrontation that ensued for about two years between him and the then governor of Bauchi State, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar.
In a letter of resignation addressed to the Bogoro ‘C’ Ward Chairman of the PDP dated July 24, 2020, Mr, Dogara cited a breakdown of governance in his native State of Bauchi under the administration of of the present Governor, Bala Mohammed whom he said he helped installed as the State’s governor in 2019.
Mr. Dogara disclosed that he could not successfully ask questions about those issues regarding governance without being accused of disloyalty, if he were to remain in the PDP.
He argued that if he abdicated this responsibility of telling the truth to power in Bauchi State, having done the same under the administrations of former Governors Isa Yuguda and Mohammed Abubakar, respectively, he would be the most irresponsible and unprincipled politician in Bauchi State.
Mr. Dogara was elected speaker on the APC platform in 2015. He subsequently decamped, alongside dozens of other federal lawmakers, to the PDP in the build-up to the 2019 general election.
He won his re-election as a lawmaker on the PDP platform but did not contest the speaker’s position, because the APC won the majority seats in the parliament.
After his meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on July 27, 2020, the then Head of the APC’s interim management committee, Mr. Mala Buni, who also attended the meeting, disclosed that the president was pleased with Mr. Dogara’s defection.
The ruling of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja wasn’t the first of its kind; it has joined recent verdicts served on similar grounds, such as the one pertaining to the incumbent governor of Ebonyi State, among others.
This pertaining to judgement is indeed a win, win for Nigeria’s democracy, to assert the least. Hence, the apex court in Nigeria – otherwise known as the Supreme Court – is expected to uphold the rulings as regards defections when eventually brought to its jurisdiction.