By Femi Falana
On Tuesday, March 8, 2022, The Federal High Court (coram Inyang
Ekwo J.) sacked the Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, his deputy, Kelechi
Igwe, along with 15 lawmakers in the state over their defection from the
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In sacking the governor and his deputy, the learned trial judge
ruled that the votes polled by a political party could not be transferred to or
utilised for the benefit of another political party or member of another
political party. In acknowledging that the Constitution was silent on the
implication of the defection of a governor or his deputy, the learned trial
judge said that “such a lacuna was not to be celebrated or even mischievously
flaunted as failure of a remedy for situations of such nature.”
Before the decision was handed down last week, the High Court of Ebonyi State had dismissed the suit filed by the APC and its flag bearers, Senator Soni Ogbuji, Justin Ogbodo in the 2919 governorship election who had prayed the Court to declare them the winners of the election since the PDP candidate had abandoned the mandate of the people by joining the APC. It was the view of the presiding Judge, Henry Njoku J. that his jurisdiction to entertain the matter had been ousted by section 308 of the Constitution, which has conferred immunity on Governor Umahi and his deputy.
