A Federal High Court sitting in Akure on Thursday sacked a decamped member of the Federal House of Representatives representing Akure South/North Federal Constituency
Ifedayo Abegunde, known by the alias Abena, had had jumped ship from the Labor Party, LP, through which he won his seat in the National Assembly to the Action Congress of Nigeria party, ACN, a few months after resuming duties in Abuja.
The party leadership in Ondo immediately began moves for his recall for a breach of party protocol, to which Abegunde responded by instituting a legal action in the courts.
In the action filed by his counsel, Kola Adewoye, the lawmaker prayed the court to declare that with the current imbroglio allegedly bedeviling the LP, he could dump the party for the ACN.
He also approached the court for protection against his recall by the state House of Assembly; Labour Party; speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The defense counsel, who is also the state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Eyitayo Jegede, leading the Director of Civil Litigation, Mr Rotimi Olamide, however, submitted that since Abegunde had dumped LP and had not proved any division within the party, he had automatically vacated his seat as a federal lawmaker.
In her judgment, Justice Gloria Okeke said without a political party, no candidate could contest an election, adding that Abegunde could not prove the alleged division and crisis within the LP.
According to her, the issue raised by Abegunde was not a dispute that should warrant his defection to the ACN, adding that it was a constitutional matter that a parliamentarian who defected in this manner “shall mandatorily vacate his seat.”
Reacting, Governor Olusegun Mimiko described the judgment as victory for the masses that voted en masse for the LP.
The governor, who made the statement while addressing a crowd of members of the party in Akure, said “I want to assure you that nobody can fight God and win. Labour Party is God’s own party.”
Abegunde was a former resident of the US state of Maryland where he was a cab-driver for many years before claiming to have acquired qualifications as a professional architect, a claim that remains in dispute by those who claim to know him.