PDP Umahi deputy begins legal battle over defection on November 24

The Abuja division of the Federal High Court has set November 24 for a definite hearing in the case in which the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is seeking the removal of Ebonyi State Governor David Umahi and his deputy, Eric Kelechi Igwe, due to their defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Governor Umahi, on the other hand, urged the court to dismiss the suit as defective and a gross abuse of the legal system.

The PDP has primarily asked the court in an originating summons marked FHC/ABJ/CS/920/2021 to declare that by defecting from the party on which they were sponsored and elected as governor and deputy governor of Ebonyi State to the APC, a political party that did not win the election, they have resigned or are deemed to have resigned from office.

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The plaintiff’s case is that the defendants allegedly defected and relinquished their membership in the PDP, on which platform they contested and won the governorship election, and as a result, are deemed to have lost the majority votes cast in the election and should be ordered by the court to vacate their respective offices as governor and deputy governor of Ebonyi State.
In a counter-affidavit filed by their counsel, Chukwuma-Machukwu Ume, Governor Umahi and his deputy drew the court’s attention to a similar suit filed earlier by the PDP and the party’s state chairman, Fred Udeogu, against the governor, APC, the Independent National Electoral Commission, and others on the same subject matter, reliefs, and annexures attached as the instant case.

While requesting that the court rule that the plaintiff’s current action is irritating, annoying, and a gross abuse of the court process, Ume stated that his clients had already filed processes in defense of the suit FHC/ABJ/CS/729/2021 at the Abakaliki division of the court.