Court Sacks Governor Umahi for Defecting to APC

By Henry Iheanacho



Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi has been sacked by a Federal High Court in Abuja, following his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), to the All Progressive Congress, (APC).

Also sacked on Tuesday, March 8th 2022, is his Deputy, Dr Eric Igwe.

In a judgement delivered by Justice Inyang Ekwo, the court held that the total number of 393,042 votes 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.


The judgement followed a suit the PDP lodged before the court.


Ekwo ruled that by defecting to the APC, both Governor 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.”

The court, therefore, ordered both Umahi and his deputy to immediately vacate their positions.


It ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to immediately receive from the PDP, names of persons to replace Umahi and his Deputy, or in the alternative, conduct a fresh gubernatorial election in Ebonyi State in line with section 177(c) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.

The court further restrained Umahi and Igwe from further parading themselves as governor or deputy governor of Ebonyi State.

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