BREAKING: Court sacks Governor Umahi, Deputy over defection to APC

The Federal High Court in Abuja has sacked the Governor of Ebonyi state, David Umahi, and his Deputy, Dr Eric Kelechi Igwe, following their defection to the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The court on Tuesday, in a judgement that was delivered by Justice Inyang Ekwo, held that the 393,042 votes Umahi secured during the March 9, 2019 governorship election belongs to the PDP and cannot be legally transferred to the APC.

Ekwo noted that having defected to the APC, both Umahi and Igwe, not only jettisoned the PDP, but also the votes that belonged to it.

It 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”.

“There is no constitutional provision that made the ballot transferrable from one party to the other”.

It held that the PDP is bound to retain the votes and mandate that was given to it by electorates in Ebonyi state, as both governor Umahi and his Deputy could not validly transfer same to APC.