The Court of Appeal in Abuja has overruled the March 8 ruling of the Federal High Court in Abuja, sacking Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi and Eric Kelechi Igwe, his deputy, for leaving the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC).
A three-member panel of the appeal court, chaired by Justice Haruna Tsunami, ruled on Friday that a governor or deputy governor who defected from the party on whose platform they were elected was not subject to any punishment under the 1999 Constitution as amended.
The Appeal court also ruled that an aggrieved political party’s only choice following the deflection of a governor or deputy governor is to consider using the constitutional provision for impeachment.
The court’s judgement agreed with a previous ruling made by the Enugu division of the court on the identical matter.
Justice Ekwo of the Abuja Federal High court Abuja had earlier ordered the governor and his deputy to vacate their positions on the basis that the PDP won the election in March 2019 and not its candidate.
The judge pronounced their defection from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress to be unlawful and unconstitutional, citing section 221 of the constitution.
