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By Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The Court of Appeal sitting in Enugu State has dismissed the suit seeking the removal of David Umahi and Eric Igwe as governor and deputy governor of Ebonyi State.
A Federal High Court in Ebonyi State had on February 28 dismissed a suit brought by Sunny Ogbuoji, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate and runner up in the 2019 governorship election in the state, which sought Umahi’s sack for defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC.
Justice Henry Njoku had held that Umahi and his deputy did not flout any law by their defection.
Aggrieved by the decision, Ogbuoji appealed the Federal High Court’s judgement.
Delivering judgement in the appeal on Friday, Justice A.O. Belgore, dismissed the suit for being inconsistent with the constitution and extant laws of the country.
Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja is yet to hear Umahi’s appeal seeking to void the judgement of an Abuja Federal High Court which sacked him from office on account of his defection.
Justice Inyang Ekwo, in his judgement, had held that the 393,042 votes polled by Umahi in the March 2019 governorship election belonged 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.
He also sacked 16 members of the state’s House of Assembly and two members of the House of Representatives for defecting to APC.