The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Tuesday, sacked Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State and his Deputy, Dr. Eric Kelechi Igwe, following their defection and other sixteen lawmakers from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC.
The court, in a judgement that was delivered by Justice Inyang Ekwo, held that the 393, 042 votes pulled by the PDP and Gov. Umahi during the 9th March , 2019 governorship election in the state was legitimately and legally owned by the PDP, and same could not be legally or otherwise transferred by any means possible to the APC.
The court maintained that the defection to APC by Umahi and his deputy as well as the sixteen lawmakers only denied them of membership and privileges of the PDP, but also the votes that belonged to it.
With the outcome of the governorship election, the court has vehemently maintained that the office of the Governor and Deputy Governor in Ebonyi state legitimately and legally belongs to the plaintiff and no other politcal party.
“There is no law of the land that make the ballots transferrable from one party to the other”, the judge emphasized.
The court further held that the umbrella party is duty-bound to retain the votes and mandate that was fairly given to it by the electorates in the state, as both governor Umahi and his Deputy could not validly transfer same to APC.
The court therefore ordered both Umahi and Igwe to immediately vacate their positions.It further ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to immediately receive from the PDP, names of persons to replace Umahi and his Deputy, or in the alternative, conduct fresh gubernatorial election in Ebonyi state in line with section 177(c) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
The court judgement strongly restrains both Umahi and Igwe from further parading themselves as Governor or Deputy Governor of Ebonyi state.
The judgement followed a suit the PDP filled before the court when the incumbent Governor and his Deputy left PDP for APC
More details later……
