68. (1) A member of the Senate or of the House of Representatives shall vacate his seat in the House of
which he is a member if (a) he becomes a member of another legislative
house.
(b) any other circumstances arise that, if he were
not a member of the Senate or the House of
Representatives, would cause him to be
disqualified for election as a member;
(c) he ceases to be a citizen of Nigeria;
(d) he becomes President, Vice-President,
Governor, Deputy Governor or a Minister of the
Government of the Federation or a
Commissioner of the Government of a State or a
Special Adviser.
(e) save as otherwise prescribed by this
Constitution, he becomes a member of a
commission or other body established by this
Constitution or by any other law.
(f) without just cause he is absent from meetings
of the House of which he is a member for a
period amounting in the aggregate to more than
one-third of the total number of days during
which the House meets in any one year;
(g) being a person whose election to the House
was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a
member of another political party before the
expiration of the period for which that House
was elected;
Provided that his membership of the latter
political party is not as a result of a division in
the political party of which he was previously a
member or of a merger of two or more political
parties or factions by one of which he was
previously sponsored; or
(h) the President of the Senate or, as the case
may be, the Speaker of the House of
Representatives receives a certificate under the
hand of the Chairman of the Independent
National Electoral Commission stating that the
provisions of section 69 of this Constitution have
been complied with in respect of the recall of
that member.
(2) The President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House of Representatives, as
the case may be, shall give effect to the provisions of subsection (1) of this section,
so however that the President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House of
Representatives or a member shall first present evidence satisfactory to the House
concerned that any of the provisions of that subsection has become applicable in
respect of that member.
(3) A member of the Senate or of the House of Representatives shall be deemed to
be absent without just cause from a meeting of the House of which he is a member,
unless the person presiding certifies in writing that he is satisfied that the absence of
the member from the meeting was for a just cause.