Court of Appeal reverses the March 8 judgment by Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja sacking Ebonyi Governor, David Umahi and his deputy
By Emma Ogbuehi
The Court of Appeal in Abuja has reversed the March 8 judgment by Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja sacking Ebonyi Governor, David Umahi and his deputy for defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
A three-member panel of the appellate court held in a judgment on Friday that the nation’s Constitution did not provide any punishment for a Governor or Deputy Governor who defected from the party on which platform he/she got to office.
In the lead judgment, Justice Haruna Tsanami, the appellate court held that the only option opened to a political party, aggrieved by the defection of a Governor or Deputy Governor, is to explore the impeachment option provided in the Constitution.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja aligned with an earlier decision on the same issue given by the court’s Enugu division.
A Federal High Court in Abuja had on March 8, ordered the removal of Governor Umahi and his deputy, Eric Kelechi Igwe, following their defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
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In the judgment, Inyang Ekwo, the judge, held that the 393,042 votes polled by Umahi in the March 9, 2019 governorship election belonged to the PDP and cannot be legally transferred to the APC.
Umahi left the PDP in November 2020 attributing the action to the “injustice” done to the south-east.
Consequently, the PDP instituted a suit against the governor, his deputy, the APC and INEC.
In the judgment, the court held that having defected to the APC, both Umahi and his deputy, not only dumped the PDP, but also the votes that belonged to it.
It held that going by the outcome of the governorship election, the office of the governor and deputy governor in Ebonyi state, “belongs to the plaintiff and no other political party”.
“There is no constitutional provision that made the ballot transferrable from one party to the other,” Ekwo held.
The court ordered Umahi and Igwe to immediately vacate their positions.
Ekwo also ordered INEC to immediately receive from the PDP, names of persons to replace Umahi and his deputy, or in the alternative, conduct a fresh gubernatorial election in Ebonyi state in line with section 177 (c) of the 1999 constitution, as amended.
The judgement was however upturned by the Enugu Division of the Court of Appeal. The Court held that there was no consequence under the law against the defection of the holder of the office of the President, Vice President, Governor or Deputy Governor, to another political party from the party that sponsored the election that brought him or her to office.