A chieftain of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Mazi Jones Onwusoanya, has regretted the controversies trailing the shocking sack of David Umahi as Governor of Ebonyi State, following his defection from Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressive Congress (APC).
Saga Gist reported that an Abuja Federal High Court had on Tuesday, sacked Umahi and his Deputy.
Justice Inyang Ekwo ruled that Umahi can not transfer the votes that got him into power under the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, into the All Progressives Congress, APC.
The judge had ordered INEC to stop recognizing Umahi and his Deputy, adding that the PDP should send names to the electoral umpire as their replacement.
Reacting to the divergent opinions being expressed by Nigerians particularly on the powers of Justice Inyang Enwo-led High court to remove Umahi on grounds of his defection, Onwusoanya, who was formerly a State Publicity Secretary of the All Progressive Congress, in a statement on Wednesday, posited that Justice Inyang’s judgement didn’t say that the Ebonyi governor does not have a right to defect to another party, his judgement is that the seat he occupies belongs to the PDP.
According to him, “if the Certificate of Return issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to the Governor bears the Peoples Democratic Party, then we might be in the process of achieving a major milestone in our democratization process. But, if it doesn’t, then, the judgement might as well be as useless as the paper it is written on.
Onwusoanya continued, “the argument that because courts of concurrent jurisdiction had given a contrary judgement on the matter, Justice Ekwo’s judgement becomes invalid is wrong. Until the supreme court rules on this matter, then, no governor or elected official who defected from one party to another should rejoice yet”.
Recall that Umahi and his Deputy were elected under the umbrella of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in 2015 and in 2019, but they dumped the party and joined the APC in 2020.
Angered by their decision, the PDP approached the court, asking for their removal.
The PDP has since submitted names of its nominees to replace Umahi and his Deputy, Kelechi Igwe to the INEC, in accordance with the Federal High Court’s order.
The party said it has nominated Iduma Enwo Igariwey as a replacement for Governor David Umahi and Fred Udeogu as Deputy governor.
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