Ebonyi State House of Assembly on Tuesday, declared the seats of three lawmakers elected under the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) vacant.
This followed a letter of resignation allegedly written and signed by the three lawmakers resigning from their seats.
Speaker of the House, Francis Nwifuru read the letter during an emergency sitting of the House on Tuesday.
The three lawmakers are Ali Okechukwu(Ishielu North), Franca Okpo Abakaliki North) and Victor Aleke (Ebonyi West).
About five PDP members including the affected members were not present at the sitting, while 15 All Progressives Party (APC) Lawmakers attended the sitting.
Speaker of the House, Francis Nwifuru read the letters on the floor of the House after which he put it to voice note and it was unanimously adopted by the house, hence the seats were declared vacant.
He also ordered the clerk to write to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) notifying the commission of the development and the need to conduct fresh elections in the affected constituencies.
But the three Lawmakers involved maintained that they are still members of the House of Assembly.
Speaking on their behalf in a telephone interview, Mr Victor Aleke described the declaration as illegal.
He said the Speaker and the other APC Lawmakers having been sacked by the Federal High Court in Abuja have ceased to be lawmakers and should not have sat in the first place.
“What they have done today by purporting to sit and declaring our seats vacant amounts to contempt of court and the court may declared them wanted if care is not taken”.
“We have no reason whatsoever to resign our seats. We are still Lawmakers representing our various constituencies and we enjoin our supporters and the general public to disregard what they have done”, Mr Aleke said.