Sacked member of the House of
Representatives, Herman Hembe has begged
the Supreme Court to be lenient on him as
he has spent all the salaries he collected as a
member of the lower legislative chamber.
Hembe was reacting following an order of
the supreme court which compelled him to
refund the salaries he was paid as a
legislator.
Hembe was sacked as a lawmaker
representing Vandeikya/Konshisha federal
constituency of Benue state on the 23rd of
June after a five-man panel of judges led by
Walter Onnoghen, chief justice of Nigeria
(CJN), declared Dorathy Mato, an All
Progressives Congress (APC) aspirant, as the
winner of the primary election of the party
in that constituency. Hembe complied with
the order and even paid the N700,000
awarded against him.
While begging for leniency, Hembe in an
affidavit dated July 18 said he used the
salaries he received for the upkeep of his
family. He further said that because of the
high cost of living, it will be impossible for
him to return the money he was paid since
he didn’t save.
“I have tried very hard to raise a loan to
enable me comply with the above order of
the honourable court, but have not yet
succeeded.
“This honourable court in its judgement
declared the primaries conducted by the
2nd respondent from 7th to 10th December,
2014 null and void and this granted the
appellants relief four in her originating
summons as reproduced in the judgement’s
of this honourable court
“The court in its judgement struck out the
appellants grounds of appeal numbered 1,
2, 6, 9, 10, as well as the appellants issues 2
and 3 in her brief of argument and issue 2
of my brief of argument, the issues having
been distilled from grounds of appeal that
had been struck out.
“The appellant’s notice on appeal and brief
of argument and the briefs of 1st, 2nd and
3rd respondents are exhibited herewith am
marked exhibits B, C, D, E and F respectively.
“I am applying to this honourable court to
set aside the consequential orders against
me. I had raised a preliminary objection
against the appellant’s originating
summons, which was upheld by the trial
court and court of appeal, but was overruled
by this honourable court,” the Affidavit read.
