In anticipation of the scheduled defection of Zamfara state governor, Bello Matawalle, from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the All Progressives Congress, APC, the main opposition party (PDP) has warned the Governor against the move, threatening to go the whole distance to defend its mandate.
The PDP specifically cautioned Bello Matawalle to know that his plans amount to a decision to vacate office “as no law allows him to cross over to any other party with the governorship mandate statutorily given to the PDP through the ballot box, as already established by the provision of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the standing judgment of the Supreme Court.”
Addressing newsmen at the party’s secretariat yesterday, PDP spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan said a “combined reading of Section 221 of the 1999 Constitution as the pronouncements of the Supreme Court in Faleke v. INEC (2016) is clear in holding that it is the political party that stands for election, that votes scored in election belong to the political party and that the candidate nominated to contest at an election by his party, acts only as of the agent of his party.”
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