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Defection: Appeal Court Reverses Federal High Court Judgment Sacking Umahi, Deputy

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Umahi

An Abuja Federal High Court judgment sacking Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State and his deputy, Eric Igwe, has been overturned.

Recall that Justice Inyang Ekwo had on March 8, sacked Governor Umahi and Igwe, over their defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Justice Ekwo at the time held that the 393,042 votes polled by Umahi in the March 2019 governorship election belong to the PDP and cannot be legally transferred to the APC. Consequently, Ekwo ordered the PDP to present another candidate or in the alternative, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should conduct a fresh poll within 90 days.

Not satisfied with the ruling, Governor Umahi and his deputy filed an appeal against the judgment as well as an application staying its execution.

In an Appeal Court judgement delivered today Friday, October 28, a three-member panel of justices held that the Nigerian constitution does not provide any punishment for a governor or deputy governor who defects from the party on whose platform he or she was elected into office.

Justice Haruna Tsanami who was on the three-member panel held in the lead judgment that the sole recourse available to a political party aggrieved by the defection of a governor or deputy governor is to explore the constitutional provision of impeachment.

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