Cross River Speaker denies knowledge of court judgement sacking lawmakers

The Speaker, Cross River House of Assembly, Mr Eteng Jonah-Williams, has said that he is not aware of any court judgment sacking him or any member of the house.

Jonah-Williams said this in an interview in Calabar, Cross River on Monday, March 21.

He said the affected members had not been served with any court order.

“As far as I am concerned, I am not aware of any court judgment sacking me or any member because we have not been served with any court order as we speak,” he said.

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A Federal High Court in Abuja has declared the seats of 20 lawmakers from Cross River vacant over their defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to All Progressives Congress (APC).

Justice Taiwo Taiwo dismissed the defence argument that PDP (plaintiff) had no locus standi to institute the case.

Meanwhile, Mr Francis Ovat (PDP), representing Obubra 2 State Constituency, has hailed the judgment as sound.

“If you are elected into a political party and you hold the people’s mandate, it is wrong for you to jump from one party to the other.

“Elected officials should learn to stay in one party.

“If there is any rancour or crisis in their party, they should stay in the party and resolve it.

“Jumping from one party to the other kills democracy.

“The judgment is a good one and it came right on time,” Ovat said.

The PDP had filed the suit to challenge the Cross River lawmakers’ defection to another party.

Two members of the House of Representatives from the state; Michael Etaba and Legor Idagbor, and 18 other lawmakers from the House of Assembly; including the Speaker, Eteng Williams, were sacked in the judgment.

Justice Taiwo dismissed all the preliminary objections raised by the sacked lawmakers.

He ruled that the argument of the lawmakers that there was rancour in the PDP which necessitated their defection to APC was a ploy to mislead the court.