Court Sacks Ebonyi State Governor Umahi

“A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi and his deputy, Eric Igwe, to vacate their seats as the sitting governor and deputy respectively, on grounds that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won the election in March 2019 and not its candidate”, Channels reports.

In Nigeria, you do not vote for people; you vote for parties since you need a party to contest an election (before any amendment).  Of course, this does not hold water since from ward level to the Speaker of the House level, politicians have moved parties, and kept their jobs.

I think this is part of presidential politics. In Zamfara state, the governor changed parties. In Imo State, the same happened in the last regime. I mean moving from one party to the other is part of Nigerian political culture. But for this to be seen this way, Engr Umahi will understand why presidential politics in Nigeria is won with federal judges and justices!

Yet, he will appeal and this will be normalized. If the Supreme Court allows this to hold, many parliamentarians in state houses like Zamfara and Imo states will go home.  Recall that Aminu Tambuwal, the current governor of Sokoto, decamped from PDP to APC as House Speaker and kept his job. PDP filed papers but nothing came out of it. So, this new ruling seems to be out of order, looking at how the court has ruled in the past.

Having defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC), Governor Umahi and his deputy cannot transfer the mandate of the PDP to the APC.

Citing section 221 of the constitution, Justice Inyang Ekwo ordered the PDP immediately send names of replacements to INEC so that fresh elections can be conducted.

Justice Ekwo also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to cease from recognising Umahi and Igwe as the governor and deputy governor of the Ebonyi State.

The Nigerian court continues to offer surprises!

Zamfara State Governor

The same Nigerian court ruled that the governor of Zamfara state did not violate any constitutional provision when he decamped from PDP to APC: “Federal High Court says Governor Bello Matawalle violated no aspect of the constitutions of Nigeria or of the PDP and APC by his defection”. Note that the Zamfara State case was even unique as the political positions were handed over to PDP when  APC was ruled to not have done any primaries. 

Yes, PDP lost in the general election but ended up picking the positions when APC was disqualified. Yet, the governor who inherited that position later left PDP to APC. A Nigerian court ruled that it was in order. But in Ebonyi state, the court ruled otherwise.

The Federal High Court in Gusau, Zamfara State capital, on Monday, struck out a suit filed by some members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state against Governor Bello Matawalle over his defection last year from the party to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The court said although it has no jurisdiction to hear the case, since it is neither a pre-election nor post-election case, the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria does not prohibit a governor from defecting from a party.

The judge, Bappa Aliyu, said the constitutions of the APC and PDP also do not make it unlawful for a governor to decide and defect to any other constitutionally recognised political party operating within Nigeria.

Mr Aliyu said if it were a pre-election case, it should have been filed before an election petitions tribunal, as the Federal High Court lacks jurisdiction to handle it.

Time for CJN to Lead

The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Tanko Muhammad, has a big job to do as his courts are evidently lost. If CJN does not deal with these judges, they will destroy this nation called Nigeria

Comment on LinkedIn Feed

Comment: Sir, if you read the reason behind the judgement, you may change your mind. The basis for his conclusion seems to have credible substance especially when you follow the judgement of kogi state wherein Bello who did not contest the general election was credited with the votes of the dead man because it was seen as votes belonging to APC and not the departed contestant

My Response: I am not arguing. What we are asking is consistency. If Federal Court ruled that Zamfara defection is fine, you cannot argue that Ebony is not fine. At least in Ebony, the man won the election in PDP and moved to APC. But in Zamfara, the governor did not even win any election but was handed the power as being the PDP rep. But the court ruled that defection does not violate any law, only for it to rule in 3 weeks that it does.

Your point on Bello is what we have all accepted; it began with Amaechi in Rivers: you vote for PARTY, not person. But in Zamfara, it was paused only to be reinstated in Ebonyi; that is the issue.

Comment 2: Both courts (“judges”) are of co-ordinate (“equal”) jurisdiction. They have no supervisory or binding authority over the other. In the absence of a Court of Appeal or Suprene Court decision on the point, they may decide as they understand the law. Let the waters of the law be stirred and let the law be developed.

My Response: Your point would have been strong if not that in Kogi, Rivers, etc states, it has been settled that Nigeria votes for PARTY, not person. So, under that precedent, the Federal Courts (Ebonyi and Zamfara) would not have arrived at different conclusions as the Supreme Court has ruled on those. PDP lost when the former House Speaker (now Sokoto) changed party and kept his job. Those are constants which would have made it impossible for Federal Courts to arrive at different conclusions. My post is to tell CJN that no one cares about what the Supreme Court has set as settled law in Nigeria. And he needs to fix that

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