Court Dismiss Governor Umahi for switching to APC

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

His Deputy, Dr Eric Igwe, was also dismissed on Tuesday, March 8th, 2022.

The court concluded that the total number of 393,042 votes Umahi received during the March 9, 2019 gubernatorial election in Ebonyi state belonged to the PDP and could not be legitimately transferred to the APC, according to a ruling by Justice Inyang Ekwo.

The ruling came after the PDP filed a lawsuit in court.

Governor Umahi and Igwe, according to Ekwo, not only abandoned the PDP, but also the votes that due to it, by departing to the APC.

According to the results of the governorship election, the governorship and deputy governorship offices 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.”

As a result, the judge mandated Umahi and his deputy to resign their jobs immediately.

It instructed the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to instantaneously obtain names of candidates to replace Umahi and his Deputy from the PDP, or, in the alternative, to hold a new gubernatorial election in Ebonyi State in accordance with section 177(c) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.

The court also barred Umahi and Igwe from acting as governor or deputy governor of Ebonyi State in the future.