"Senate President Cannot Declare The Seat Of Kalu Vacant, It Is Against The Law"- Constituents

“The Senate has no reason to declare his seat vacant. This is not the first time that such a thing would happen.

“There is no provision in the constitution that says the seat of any senator facing prosecution or convicted at a lower court should be declared vacant.He still has the opportunity to appeal the case.

“Even the tenure of a former governor Joshua Dariye, who has been in prison for some time now, ran its course until the end of the 8th National Assembly. Nobody declared his seat vacant.

“The Senate President cannot declare the seat of Kalu vacant. It is against the law.

“Tell those who are canvassing such things that there is nothing like that, it is a non-issue”.

But, former Special Adviser to Kalu on Political Affairs, Chief Amah Abraham, has now said the people could rely on the ‘Doctrine of Necessity’ to replace the senator.

He argued that while nobody would stop the former governor from exploring the legal process to seek the upturning of his judgment, he, however, would not do so at the expense of the entire senatorial district.

The former Council boss argued that Abia North would be without a voice at the red chamber “as long as the matter lingers in court and Kalu is in detention”.

“We will not object to the claims of the Senate spokesperson but Abia North eligible electorates will not hesitate to apply the doctrine of necessity to enable us have our voice on the floor of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”, he said.

Continuing he said: “We are not ignorant of the enormous disadvantage inherent to be voiceless on that chamber. It is about the senatorial district and the welfare of its over 2 million population and not about a single individual”.