{"id":1933,"date":"2026-07-16T23:23:43","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T22:23:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/?p=1933"},"modified":"2026-07-16T23:23:44","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T22:23:44","slug":"delta-assembly-declares-udu-constituency-seat-vacant-over-defection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/?p=1933","title":{"rendered":"Delta Assembly Declares Udu Constituency Seat Vacant Over Defection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Chetachi Egbu<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Delta State House of Assembly has declared the seat of the lawmaker representing Udu State Constituency, Hon. Collins Egbetamah, vacant following his defection from the political party on whose platform he was elected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decision was reached during plenary on Tuesday, presided over by the Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Emomotimi Dennis Guwor. Members of the Assembly unanimously adopted a motion moved by the Majority Leader, Hon. Emeka Nwaobi, and seconded by the Deputy Speaker, Rt. Hon. Arthur Akpowowo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his ruling, Speaker Guwor said the action was taken in line with Section 109(1)(g) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), which states that a member of a State House of Assembly shall vacate his seat if he defects from the political party that sponsored his election, except where such defection is caused by a division within the party or a merger involving political parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Speaker explained that the House reviewed the lawmaker\u2019s notification letter on his defection and found no evidence of any internal division within the party that could justify his continued occupation of the seat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHaving satisfied the constitutional requirements, this Honourable House hereby declares the seat of the Honourable Member representing Udu State Constituency vacant with immediate effect,\u201d Guwor ruled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following the declaration, the Speaker directed the Clerk of the House to notify the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to begin the process of conducting a bye-election to fill the vacant position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The development has generated political reactions across Delta State, with supporters of the lawmaker\u2019s new political party faulting the decision. They described the declaration as unconstitutional and politically motivated, arguing that the matter should be determined by a competent court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, also criticised the Assembly\u2019s action, stating that the constitutional provision relating to division within political parties should have been properly considered before declaring the seat vacant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the House maintained that its decision was based strictly on constitutional provisions. Majority Leader Emeka Nwaobi said no evidence of a genuine division within the party was presented to warrant an exemption under the law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legal observers noted that any challenge to the Assembly\u2019s decision would ultimately be determined by the courts, adding that previous cases involving legislative defections have depended on judicial interpretations of constitutional provisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Political analysts say the development could influence political activities in Delta State in the coming weeks as stakeholders await INEC\u2019s response on the proposed bye-election and possible legal actions arising from the declaration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Chetachi Egbu The Delta State House of Assembly has declared the seat of the lawmaker representing Udu State Constituency, Hon. Collins Egbetamah, vacant following his defection from the political party on whose platform he was elected. The decision was reached during plenary on Tuesday, presided over by the Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1935,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"iawp_total_views":14,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,14],"tags":[24,54,529],"class_list":["post-1933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","category-trendingnews","tag-24","tag-dtha","tag-party-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1933"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1936,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1933\/revisions\/1936"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}