{"id":17905,"date":"2020-06-02T13:41:02","date_gmt":"2020-06-02T13:41:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?p=17905"},"modified":"2020-06-02T13:41:10","modified_gmt":"2020-06-02T13:41:10","slug":"abia-citizens-protest-at-nass-asks-senate-to-declare-orji-kalus-seat-vacant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?p=17905","title":{"rendered":"Abia citizens protest at NASS, asks Senate to declare Orji Kalu\u2019s seat vacant"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/www.ripplesnigeria.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/orji-uzor-kalu.jpg\" alt=\"S\u2019East cannot be left behind, I must contest for Senate Dep President\u2013 Kalu\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Some aggrieved citizens on Tuesday stormed the National Assembly to demand that Senator&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ripplesnigeria.com\/why-orji-kalu-is-still-in-prison-ncos\/\">Orji Uzo Kalu\u2019s<\/a>&nbsp;seat be declared vacant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The protesters, who came under the aegis of Concerned Citizens of Abia North called on the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, to declare the seat vacant, without any further delay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kalu, a former governor of Abia State and current Senate Majority Whip, was sent to jail over involvement in corruption while serving as a governor between 1999 and 2007.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Though the Supreme Court recently nullified the judgment of the Federal High Court that sent Kalu to jail, on the ground that the court lacked the jurisdiction to do so, the senator, however, has remained in prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The protesters on Tuesday said the Senate had to declare Kalu\u2019s seat vacant to enable the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conduct a fresh election for Abia North senatorial position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chukwudi Chukwu, who read the group\u2019s protest letter said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe are indigenes of the five (5) Local Government Areas: Arochukwu, Bende, Isuikwuato, Ohafia and Umunneochi that make up the Abia North Senatorial District of Abia State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe formally notify Your Excellency of the absence of our Senator Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, from the senate. The conviction and incarceration of the senator representing Abia North, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu leading to his long absence from the National Assembly has effectively silenced our voices. Abia North constituents have no representation in the Nation\u2019s highest deliberative body and cannot participate in matters that affect them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cCitizens in Abia North Senatorial District have every cause to feel abandoned, angry, less optimistic about their future because they have no representation in the senate. Democracy thrives and is significantly enriched when citizens participate in the process, and can speak through their elected representative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDenying citizens the right to be represented inspires disaffection and provokes contempt for both the Legislative body and the democratic process. More fundamentally, it does grave violence to the democratic imperatives of representation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYour Excellency, we are law-abiding citizens and have confidence in both the democratic process and your ability to assuage our concerns and repair this anomaly. We are deeply and fervently committed to the democratic process and respectfully urge you to restore our voice in the legislative process muted by the incarceration of our senator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe, therefore, pray you to use your good offices and declare the Abia North Senate seat vacant to enable&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ripplesnigeria.com\/tag\/INEC\">INEC<\/a>&nbsp;to conduct a fresh election to elect a senator who will represent us at the senate. Your Excellency, declaring a vacancy in Abia North Senatorial District will repair the monumental injustice done to us and encourage hope in our senatorial district.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some of the placards the protesters displayed during the protest had inscriptions like \u201dSenate President obey section 68 (1)(f) of the Constitution and declare Abia North Senatorial seat vacant; \u201dOur voice must be heard, declare Abia North Seat Vacant now\u201d, \u201d Declare Abia North Seat in the Senate Vacant\u201d; \u201cAbia North Constituents are saying declare the Seat Vacant.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some aggrieved citizens on Tuesday stormed the National Assembly to demand that Senator&nbsp;Orji Uzo Kalu\u2019s&nbsp;seat be declared vacant. The protesters, who came under the aegis of Concerned Citizens of Abia North called on the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, to declare the seat vacant, without any further delay. Kalu, a former governor of Abia State and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Abia citizens protest at NASS, asks Senate to declare Orji Kalu\u2019s seat vacant &raquo; WatchDog Plus Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?p=17905\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Odofin\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?p=17905#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Politics\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?cat=10\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Abia citizens protest at NASS, asks Senate to declare Orji Kalu\u2019s seat vacant\"}]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Abia citizens protest at NASS, asks Senate to declare Orji Kalu\u2019s seat vacant &raquo; WatchDog Plus Media","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?p=17905","author":"Odofin","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?p=17905#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Politics","item":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?cat=10"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Abia citizens protest at NASS, asks Senate to declare Orji Kalu\u2019s seat vacant"}]}]}},"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Odofin","author_link":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?author=2"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/?cat=10\" rel=\"category\">Politics<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Some aggrieved citizens on Tuesday stormed the National Assembly to demand that Senator&nbsp;Orji Uzo Kalu\u2019s&nbsp;seat be declared vacant. The protesters, who came under the aegis of Concerned Citizens of Abia North called on the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, to declare the seat vacant, without any further delay. Kalu, a former governor of Abia State and&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17905"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17905"}],"version-history":[{"count":-4,"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17905\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/watchdogplusmedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}