Does a YOUTUBE VIDEO Suffice as Evidence of Defection by the 27 Amawhule gang in Accordance with Section 109 (1) (g) of the Nigerian Constitution (as altered)?” -By Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja

By Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja

Rt. Hon. Minority Leader, of the House of Representatives, National Assembly of Nigeria, Mr. Kingsley Ogundu Chinda is a very experienced lawyer when it comes to matters of legislative law.

He is author of a seminal book entitled: “Annotations on the Standing Orders of the House of Representatives” and Editor of the Legislative Law Reports of Nigeria (1962 to 2024).

Regardless of our ideological, religious and ethnic differences, whenever he makes any commentary on a point of law on the subject matter of legislative law, I will pay close attention.

This morning he sent me several messages to the effect that the so-called defection of the 27 Amawhule gang is not valid in the eyes of the law and the Nigerian Constitution because there is no written letter of resignation that was addressed to the various Ward Chairmen of the said People’s Democratic Party (PDP) by the said 27 Amawhule gang members.

Rt. Hon. Chinda then sends me a sample of a real-life letter of resignation written and addressed to the Ward Chairman; the signature of the recipient is there.

Rt. Hon. Chinda then made the analogy that just because someone joins in singing the national anthem of the United States of America (USA) and waves the flag in a public ceremony does not automatically entitle them to USA citizenship. He said that such a person must also do the necessary paperwork.

He concluded by saying (with a tone of “assurance and certainty”) that the Supreme Court of Nigeria will hold that the there is no evidence that the 27 Amawhule gang members ever defected and therefore are still valid members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

He asked me to look more carefully at the provisions of Section 109 (1) (g) of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as altered) that I would find two things:

1. There is no express mention of the word “defection,” and
2. There is nothing like self-executing operation of the provisions whereby a legislator automatically vacates his seat upon defection. He cited the cases of several members of the National Assembly that defected and are still members of the National Assembly. He concluded that only a court of law can make such a decision.

I sent him an African parable that says: “When a child pretends to be dead, the best thing to do is to pretend to bury him.”

Since the 27 Amawhule gang members woke up one morning (nobody put a gun to their heads to force them) and “pretended” to have defected from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), it follows logically that we shall also play along with them by “pretending” to bury them in the coffin they themselves selected (until the Supreme Court of Nigeria) rules otherwise.

I have consistently used the word “gang” to describe the 27 Amaewhule gang because, according to the dictionary, a gang is a group of persons who carry on their operations outside the ambits of the law. In other words, they do not like to comply with the laws in their operations.

How else can anyone describe the actions of the 27 Amawhule gang members?

Persons who were elected to carry on the serious constitutional business of lawmaking for the indigenes of Rivers State woke up one morning and went on camera with flags of the APC, singing “On his mandate we shall stand,” and publicly declared their defection from the PDP to the APC. Only for them to renege and say the video that they starred in is not admissible or sufficient evidence of defection. A copy of the said video is available online at. https://youtu.be/5uX-E3yxvs0?si=Sm-5QLRjFrpICxyr

We would have believed them if their full-time occupation was drama acting as actors and actresses within Nollywood.

However, prior to their publicly televised and videoed defection, none of the 27 Amawhule gang members was recognised as a Nollywood movie actor or actress.

Now both they and their supporters want us to believe that their public declaration of their defection is not sufficient evidence for the Supreme Court of Nigeria to give a verdict that they have vacated their legislative seats.

Their major argument being that their defection was not backed up by written letters of resignation (or at least no one has provided copies of the said letters of resignation).

In response to their line of reasoning, there is a legal maxim in law that says, “Even the Devil does not know the intentions of any man.”.

Therefore, the laws are crafted in such a manner that it is only when any person displays or demonstrates such an intention by their words and actions (acteus rea) that such a person is penalised.

In this instance, the 27 Amawhule gang members publicly declared their intentions to defect from the PDP to the APC.

As to whether the YOUTUBE VIDEO of their public declaration of defection will suffice, let them bear in mind that as far back as the year 2011, the Nigerian Evidence Act, 2011 was amended to permit the admission of electronically generated evidence such as this YouTube video.

Also, previously, copies of the affidavit sworn by the said 27 Amawhule gang members exist, which clearly state that they have defected from the PDP to the APC.

To conclude, what is it in the first place that caused these 27 Amawhule gang members to publicly declare their defection from the PDP to the APC and lately deny it?

Is this the calibre of lily-livered legislators that constituents of Rivers State require as legislators?

It is on record that over 30 members of the National Assembly have publicly declared their defection from the Labour Party (LP) to the APC since May 2023; however, not one of these has later backtracked to say that they are withdrawing their defection. Even in the face of the threat of lawsuits by the Labour Party (LP) seeking to declare the seats of such members vacant.

Why are the 27 Amawhule gang membersjittery?

Source: BarristerNG