The Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday dismissed a suit seeking to sack Rep Hussaini Jallo as member representing Igabi Federal Constituency of Kaduna State in the House of Representatives.
Justice James Omotosho, in a judgment, held that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which filed the suit, had failed to place any credible evidence before the court to establish Jallo’s defection to All Progressives Congress (APC).
According to Justice Omotosho, having not proved that the 1st defendant (Jallo) defected from the plaintiff (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress, the reliefs of the plaintiff has nothing to support it.
“It is baseless and has no weight. The exhibits relied upon by the plaintiff is wholly insufficient to support its claim against the defendants.
“It is on this premise that this court holds that the plaintiff has not proven its entitlement to the reliefs it seeks.
“Consequently, the suit is without merit and will accordingly be dismissed,” Justice Omotosho said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the PDP, in the suit, had sued Jallo, Speaker of House of Representatives and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as 1st to 3rd defendants respectively.
In the amended originating summons filed on March 6, the plaintiff sought a declaration that Jallo, having defected from the PDP that sponsored him and on which platform he was elected as a lawmaker representing Igabi Federal Constituency of Kaduna State to APC, ought to vacate his seat with immediate effect.
The PDP, through its lawyer, M.S. Atolagbe, cited Section 68 (1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) to back its arguments.
The plaintiff sought an order declaring vacant, the seat of Igabi Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives currently occupied by Jallo and directing him to, with immediate effect, vacate the said seat by virtue of Section 68 (1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
It sought an order directing Jallo to immediately vacate his seat as a member representing the constituency, having defected from the PDP, being the political party that sponsored him as a member representing the Igabi Federal Constituency to APC
It also sought an order of perpetual injunction restraining Jallo from parading or further holding out himself as the member representing the Igabi Federal Constituency of Kaduna State in the House of Representatives and undertaking any legislative duties or function thereof, having lost his legislative seat by virtue of his defection to APC.
Besides, the PDP prayed the court for an order directing, compelling and mandating INEC to forthwith conduct fresh or bye-elections to fill the vacancy resulting from the vacation of the seat of the 1st defendant as member representing the constituency, among others.
In his counter affidavit, Jallo denied being a “former member” of PDP and that he remained a valid, bona fide and a card-carrying member of the political party and that his allegiance and loyalty to it had not changed.
He also stated that he had not tendered or submitted any letter of resignation or defection from PDP at his electoral ward, and that his membership in the political party was still valid, lawful and legitimate.
Also the Speaker of House of Representatives, in his counter affidavit, stated that contrary to PDP’s allegation, he never announced nor read any document on the floor of the House that Jallo defected from PDP to APC.
The speaker added that there was no information at his disposal that Jallo “is no longer a member of the plaintiff, and no evidence whatsoever was presented or submitted to the 2nd defendant or the House of Representatives showing that the 1st defendant is now a member of the APC.”
INEC, in its counter affidavit, stated that PDP had been bedevilled by crisis, which was evidenced by the emergence of two functional leaderships.
Delivering the judgment, Justice Omotosho agreed with the PDP’s argument that it had a legal right to Institute the suit and that it is a necessary party to the suit contrary to Jallo’s submission
According to the judge, a political party which sponsored such persons who have allegedly defected is fully clothed with the requisite locus standi to bring a court action to compel the Speaker of the House of Representatives to declare the defecting members’ seats vacant.
He equally agreed that by virtue of the constitutional provision, once an elected legislator in the National Assembly defects to another party, he automatically loses his seat.
“The provision to this section however provides for an exception where such defection was on the grounds of division within the party,” he said.
Justice Omotosho, however, observed that the PDP, in proof of Jallo’s defection, placed exhibits before the court.
“I have carefully studied the exhibits, one of which is a newspaper publication alleging the defection of the 1st defendant,” he said.
According to the judge, on the weight to be attached to a newspaper publication, the law is trite that the contents of a newspaper report are nothing but documentary hearsay and cannot be relied on as proof of the truth of the contents, citing a previous Appeal Court decision to back his judgment.
He held that newspaper publications constitute hearsay and carry no probative weight regarding the truth of their contents.
“This court will waste no time relying on unverified reports in newspaper publications.
“Therefore, the newspaper exhibit attached by the plaintiff is unreliable and cannot be relied upon by this court to resolve the instant dispute,” he said.
The judge, who also rejected copies of documents exhibited by PDP regarding votes and proceedings in the House dated March 18, 2025, held that the only admissible secondary evidence is a certified true copy (CTC) in line with Evidence Act, 2011.
He observed that though the PDP asserted that an application was made for the CTC of the documents, “no evidence is placed before this court to show that the application was in fact made.”
The judge also observed that INEC, in its argument, stated that it did not receive any register of members showing that Jallo had joined the APC.
“Likewise, the 1st and 2nd defendants denied that any such defection took place or that the events which happened in the said proceedings of 18th March, 2025 actually took place.
“It is then left for the plaintiff to clearly establish that the 1st defendant had defected,” he said.
Justice Omotosho stated that PDP neither provided any membership register of APC or Jallo’s membership card, showing that the lawmaker was now a member of APC.
“Furthermore, the 1st defendant maintained that he never resigned his membership of the plaintiff which the plaintiff has been unable to disprove through the production of a resignation letter of the 1st defendant,” he said.
According to the judge, without a letter of resignation, there is nothing before the court to show that the 1st defendant was no longer a member of the plaintiff.
The issue of defection must be premised on hard facts and not conjectures or reliance on newspaper reports.
“The plaintiff has clearly placed no credible evidence on record to establish the 1st defendant’s actual defection.
“A well-established principle of law is that a party seeking declaratory reliefs must do so on the strength of its own case and not rely on the weakness of the adverse party,” Justice Omotosho said.
