Court sacks Prominent Senator, orders refund of salaries

Senator Bassey Akpan was removed from the Senate as the senator representing the Uyo Senatorial District by an Abuja-based Federal High Court after he joined the Young Progressives Party, or YPP.

In the decision on Friday, the presiding judge, Justice Fadima Murtala Aminu, declared Senator Akpan’s seat vacant and commanded INEC to hold a bye election to fill the position

The Judge further decreed that the Senator must return to the National Assembly all funds and benefits received after July 2022, the date on which he defected peacefully from the PDP to the YPP.

Having resigned his membership in the PDP prior to the expiration of the term for which he was elected to represent the people of the Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District, Justice Aminu determined in a lawsuit with the file number FHC/ABJ/CS/1249/2022 that Senator Akpan, who was sponsored to the office of a Senator by the PDP, is no longer qualified to retain his seat in the Senate.

According to section 65(2)[B] of the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s 1999 constitution, Justice Aminu declared Senator Akpan’s seat vacant.