Senator Ali Ndume says the verdict of the Federal High Court which declared his suspension as illegal, has vindicated him and confirmed his earlier position that the Senate has no right to suspend a member for more than two weeks.
Speaking in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) after the court verdict, Senator Ndume says his belief in the unfairness of his suspension by the Senate, prompted him to approach the court for a declaratory judgment.
He said, “My suspension was not right in the first place. I didn’t do anything to warrant the suspension. If it is vindictiveness or vengeance, then appeal on the declarative judgment will now prove that it is vindictiveness.
“The court judgment is a declarative judgment. The court has said that the Senate has no right to do what it did.
“So, if they appeal, I won’t be surprised but I will be disappointed. What has happened has happened. I have spent seven to eight months outside the National Assembly, I can’t reverse that, but it will be on record that what they did was wrong. I am hoping to be in the Chambers on Wednesday.”
He said that he would resume plenary on Wednesday, November 15, 2017.
Ndume said: “I am just from court and I thank God that the court has declared my suspension unconstitutional, illegal and null and void, and that was what I approached the court for declaratory judgment and I got that judgment today.
“So, that nullifies my suspension which hitherto or ab initio I said it was illegal, because first of all, there was no cause for me to be suspended because I didn’t do anything that would have warranted my suspension in the first place.
“And secondly also, the Senate doesn’t have the right to suspend a member more than two weeks. That is what our rules say. So, where they got the power to suspend me for six months was what I approached the court to seek declaration and the court has so declared that it was not right and it was illegal.
The lawmaker also confirmed that before the judgment, the Senate had written him informing him of his resumption on November 15th.