A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi and his Deputy, Eric Igwe, to vacate their seats as the sitting Governor and Deputy respectively.
They were sacked on grounds that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won the election on March 2019 and not its candidate.
Having defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC), Governor Umahi and his Deputy cannot transfer the mandate of the PDP to the APC.
Citing section 221 of the constitution, Justice Inyang Ekwo ordered the PDP immediately send names of replacements to INEC so that fresh elections can be conducted.
Justice Ekwo also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to cease from recognising Umahi and Igwe as the governor and deputy governor of the Ebonyi State.
Similarly, the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Tuesday, also ordered the 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.
Some of the lawmakers include Odefa Obasi Odefa, Victor Chukwu, Kingsley Ikoro, Joseph Ununu, Nkemka Okoro, among others.
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”.
Justice Ekwo had, on Jan. 19, fixed today for the judgment in the suit filed by the PDP against the governor and his deputy.
