Protesters Storm NASS, Call On Senate President To Declare Orji Kalu’s Seat Vacant

A group of protesters have stormed the Senate wing of the National Assembly to call on the senate president Ahmed Lawan to immediately declare the seat of Senator Orji Uzor Kalu vacant.

The protesters, in their request, want the seat declared vacant so that a fresh senatorial election can be conducted for a new member.

The protesters stormed the NASS complex with placards with inscription as follows: ” Senate President obey section 68(1)(f) of the Constitution and declare Abia North Senatorial seat vacant; ” Our voice must be heard, declare Abia North Seat Vacant now”; ” Declare Abia North Seat in the Senate Vacant”; ” Abia North Constituents are saying declare the Seat Vacant.”

According to one Chukwudi Chukwu who spoke on behalf of the group, he said:

“We 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.

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“We 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’s highest deliberative body and cannot participate in matters that affect them.

“Citizens 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.

“Denying 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.

“Your 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.

“We, therefore, pray you to use your good offices and declare the Abia North Senate seat vacant to enable INEC 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.

“We deserve to have an active voice to speak for us in the senate as we have previously had, more so now that the deadly Covid-19 Pandemic is ravaging countries and across the land; non-selective. Again, our Senatorial District is grossly prone to ecological disasters, especially erosion and landslide.

We are regrettably backward and disadvantaged, and in dire need of Federal Government Presence; to be canvassed through our senate representative, akin to the other districts of the state and federation.

“We pray our demand meets your kind consideration and good conscience.”