Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday ushered in a new era in Nigerian politics by ordering the Governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi, and his deputy, Dr. Kelechi Igwe, to vacate their positions for defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) (APC).
According to Justice Ekwo, the transition from the PDP to the APC was illegitimate and unconstitutional. The ruling came after the PDP filed petitions designated FHC/ABJ/CS/ 920/21 and FHC/ABJ/CS/ 1041/21 seeking the removal of the governor and his deputy from office for quitting the party.
The depositions of the third and fourth defendants (Umahi and Igwe) in their counter-affidavit, according to Justice Ekwo, were "evasive and insufficient" to adequately dispute the plaintiff's originating process.
The court held that the "Immunity Clause" in Section 308 of the Constitution is not absolute.
"Section 308 is a true constitutional protection," the court said, adding that it was not added for political purposes.
According to the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2010 and recent Supreme Court pronouncements, Umahi and his deputy filed a notice of preliminary objection challenging the PDP's suit, arguing that Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution granted them immunity from the plaintiff's suit and that votes cast during the said elections belonged to them and not the plaintiff.
The court, however, disagreed with them, holding that Umahi and Igwe did not dispute the deposition that total votes cast in an election belong to a political party.
According to Justice Ekwo, evidence abounds that the second defendant (APC) ran its own candidates in the Ebonyi State Governorship election in March 2019.
“It can be noted that the Constitution does not deal with the issue of defection lightly.
“The 3rd and 4th defendants cannot transfer the votes and victory of the plaintiff on March 9, 2019, to the APC. Office of the Governor and Deputy Governor of Ebonyi state belongs to the PDP.
"The option for Umahi and Igwe is to resign office and wait for the next election to run on the platform of their new party," the court stated.
The court went on to say that the APC's, Umahi's, and his deputy's actions are intended to demolish the 1999 Constitution.
As a result, the court determined that the plaintiff received the majority of votes during the election and is allowed to continue to do so until the conclusion of the term of office for which the election was held.
The PDP had asked the court in an originating summons to declare that by defecting from the party on which they were sponsored and elected as governor and deputy governor of Ebonyi State to the APC, a political party that did not win the election, they had resigned or were deemed to have resigned from office.
