Umahi’s Removal: Here is what is likely to happen

Umahi’s removal throws spanner in the works for his presidential bid

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has removed the Governor of Ebonyi State, Engineer David Umahi. The court sacked Gov. Umahi, his Deputy, Dr. Kelechi Igwe and all 17 members of Ebonyi State House of Assembly on Tuesday for illegally defecting to the All Progressives Congress.

But will they go? That is the question in the minds of many Nigerians, especially Ebonyi people and members of his party, the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

The issues in contention

The court, in a judgement that was delivered by Justice Inyang Ekwo, held that the total number of 393, 042 votes governor 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.

According to the court, having defected to the APC, both Umahi and his deputy, 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”.

What the constitution says

Although justice Inyang argued in his judgement that “there is no constitutional provision that made the ballot transferrable from one party to the other”, the constitution did not contain any express provision for the removal of a state governor should he decamp to another political party.

Although the constitution stated in Section 177 (c) that a person shall be qualified for election to the office of the governor of a state if “he is a member of a political party and is sponsored by that political party,” it did not state categorically if the governor shall vacate his seat if leaves the political party to another while still serving as the chief executive of the state.

“In fact, the Supreme Court in AG FEDERATION & ANOR VS. ATIKU ABUBAKAR & ORS (2007) LPELR-3(SC) held that decamping to another party isn’t a ground to lose the seat of the President or Vice President, FRN which positions are in part material with those of the offices of the Governor and Deputy Governor of Ebonyi State respectively.

“As a matter of fact, the Supreme Court even declared in the case that courts do not possess the powers to declare the office of a sitting chief executive vacant (this should be distinguished from court nullifying an election of a chief executive arising from an election petition). Similarly, the above was one of the reasons behind the Zamfara State judgment as well even though the judge acknowledged that he had no jurisdiction on the suit, same not being a pre or an election matter. His lordship, Justice Bappa Aliyu opined that no provisions of the Constitution prohibited the Zamfara State Governor from defecting from PDP to APC,” said a legal practitioner and NTN’s legal analyst, Okeh Isaac.

However, the same cannot be said of the legislature, where the constitution in Section 109, Subsection 1(g) clearly stated that a state legislator shall vacate his/her seat if “being a person whose election to the House of Assembly was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected.”

Therefore, in the case of the 17 lawmakers, they clearly violated the constitution by jumping ship with Governor Umahi to the APC. Indeed, they may have little to no grounds for appeal.

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What is going to happen next?

Already, the People’s Democratic Party, PDP has picked Dr. Iduma Igariwey as Umahi’s replacement and has gone ahead to submit his name to the Independent Electoral Commission, INEC.

But it is unlikely that Governor Umahi’S removal by the court will stand. He is likely to challenge this up to the Supreme Court, by which time his tenure would have expired in 2023. In the meantime, he needs an appeal and a restraining order to prevent INEC from swearing-in Dr. Igariwey as the new Governor.  

I remain Ebonyi Governor – Umahi

While his lawyers are preparing for the battle ahead, the Governor has assured Ebonyi people that he remains in charge and that he will serve out his tenure.

Briefing newsmen in his office at the new Government House, Abakaliki, Governor Umahi who described the ruling as “jungle justice that was purchased” noted that the ruling was not a good development for the Judiciary.

What this means for Nigeria’s democracy

Defection has made a mockery of Nigeria’s party democracy. Politicians shamelessly cross over to other political parties with little regard to ideology or political beliefs so that in the end, there is not much difference between the political parties.

Governor Umahi may not lose his seat. However, he will remain distracted over the next foreseeable future from his political ambition of running for the office of the President come 2023, which was the main reason for his defection to the ruling APC.

Beyond that, the ruling holds much significance for political party stability in a young democracy such as Nigeria. It will in the long term compel many political actors contemplating abandoning their parties or who have the habit of jumping from one party to another when it favours them the most, to have a rethink.

However, for the Ebonyi lawmakers, this ruling shall forever exact bitter revenge for their thoughtless loyalty to an individual and thus serve as a lesson to other lawmakers across the country.