According to a report by DAILY POST, the National Democratic Coalition (NDC) has sharply criticized a recent ruling by the Court of Appeal that reinstated 24 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly who had defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In a statement released on Thursday, the NDC's Executive Director, Dr. Samson Iroegbunam, described the appellate court's decision as "against the rule of law, undemocratic, antithetical, retrogressive and provocative to the point of further jeopardizing the fragile peace in the state."
The controversy stems from a May 30, 2024 ruling by a state High Court in Port Harcourt, which had barred the 25 defecting lawmakers from parading themselves as members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
The legislators then appealed the High Court's order, and the Appeal Court subsequently overturned the lower court's verdict.
In its ruling, the three-member Appeal Court panel determined that the High Court lacked the jurisdiction to grant the ex parte order in the first place.
This, according to the NDC, has created "new complications" and "heightened concerns about the raging allegations that have been made against the Judiciary."
"The Appeal Court has now created new complications with the judicial precedence it has set instead of giving rulings that stabilize Nigeria's democracy and enhance the rule of law," Iroegbunam stated.
The coalition argued that the Nigerian Constitution is unambiguous on the matter, with Section 109(1)(g) clearly stipulating that a state legislator "shall vacate his seat in the House if being a person whose election to the House of Assembly was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected."