A Federal High Court in Abuja has sacked Ebonyi State Governor, Mr Dave Umahi, and his Deputy, Dr Kelechi Igwe, on account of their unlawful defection from the Peoples Democratic Party PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The court declared their defection unlawful, unconstitutional, null and void and ordered them to immediately vacate their offices.
The judge had earlier today sacked Governor David Umahi and his Deputy, Dr Eric Kelechi Igwe for defecting to APC.
He held that the total number of 393, 042 votes governor Umahi secured during the March 9, 2019 governorship election in Ebonyi state, belonged to the PDP and same could not be legally transferred to the APC.
Ekwo ruled that having defected to the APC, both Umahi and his deputy, not only jettisoned the PDP, but also the votes that belonged to it.
He held that going by the outcome of the governorship election, the office of the governor and deputy governor in Ebonyi state, “belong to the Plaintiff and no other political party”.
Justice Ekwo said: “There is no constitutional provision that made the ballot transferrable from one party to the other”.
In the same vain, the Federal High Court, Abuja, ordered 16 lawmakers from Ebonyi to vacate their seats after their defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Justice Inyang Ekwo, in a judgment, ordered the lawmakers to stop parading themselves as representatives of the people after dumping the party on which platform they were elected into the house of assembly.
