More than seven months after the former speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, resigned his membership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said he is not their member.
Dogara’s defection to the APC was announced at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on July 24, 2020 after meeting President Muhammadu Buhari along with the chairman of the National Caretaker Committee of the APC, Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State.
Dogara, has however, not written to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila of his decision to quit the PDP, which is the traditional way lawmakers announce their defection.
A member of the PDP, Alhaji Hamza Koshe Akuyam, had approached a Federal High Court in Abuja seeking an order to compel the leadership of the House to declare Dogara’s seat vacant.
Those joined in the suit as defendants were: Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, Attorney General Federation, Independent National Electoral Commission and APC.
But in a counter-affidavit filed before the court and deposed by the Head of the Legal Department, Dare Oketade, on behalf of the National Legal Adviser of APC, the party stated that it was not aware that Dogara has defected from PDP.
Oketade said he had checked the membership register of the APC but did not find Dogara’s name in it.
“That in fact the 5th defendant (APC) has not received an application for membership from the 1st defendant (Dogara) or any other person acting under the instruction of the 1st defendant (Dogara); neither has the 5th defendant (APC) issued any membership card to the 1st defendant,” he said.
He urged the court to dismiss the suit in the interest of justice.
The presiding judge, Justice Okon Abang, has granted an application seeking to abridge the time for the hearing of the suit seeking to declare Dogara’s seat vacant.