A Senior Advocate of Nigeria and a King’s Counsel in the UK, Professor Fidelis Oditah speaking on the Pro Fubara lawmakers being able to form a quorum has alleged that the operational continuity of a state House of Assembly cannot be disrupted merely due to the loss of members, even when the number of departing legislators is substantial.
He emphasized that the proper protocol would have been to request the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct immediate bye-elections to fill the vacant positions. He specifically highlighted the urgency of such elections, suggesting they should be treated as emergency measures to restore full representation in the state legislature. However, Professor Oditah made a crucial observation regarding how INEC had failed to conduct these elections to replace the 27 lawmakers.
He said in an interview with Arise TV from 13:03, ‘The state House of Assembly cannot stop functioning because it lost its members or it lost a significant number of its members. I believe that the correct thing for them to do would have been to call for INEC to conduct fresh elections, like an emergency election, absolutely to fill those seats. But if INEC refuses, for whatever reason – because it’s politically partial or it’s not independent – or for whatever reason it fails to do so, that cannot prevent the state from functioning.”