Sam-Tsokwa (PDP Taraba), who represents Donga/SSA/Takum/Special Area, spoke yesterday during the House of Representatives Press Corps’ Hot Seat series at the National Assembly in Abuja.
The lawmaker flayed the call of the PDP Governors’ Forum to declare the seats of the defected lawmakers vacant.
He urged the PDP governors to stop making a pronouncement that could heat up the polity but take the legal option.
According to him, the governors should take recourse to the Judiciary on the case of the 37 defecting lawmakers and approach the courts for a writ of mandamus, if they felt the law was not being adhered to.
Sam-Tsokwa said: “Let me begin by saying the court is not a father Christmas. A court has no jurisdiction, a court has no right, a court has no power to give what is not asked for.
“Now, as to the next course of action, the constitution is very clear: that power (to declare seat of any member vacant) is vested in the Senate President or the Speaker of the House of Representatives. No other person in Nigeria has that power, not even the court.
“If I am aggrieved that the Senate President has not done what he should or the Speaker has not done what he should have done, the only way we can involve a court is to go to the court and ask for an order of mandamus to compel him to do what the law requires him to do.”
The lawmaker accused most northern governors of sponsoring acts of terrorism.
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