By our reporter| Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State on Wednesday filed an appeal challenging Tuesday’s ruling of the Federal High Court which ordered the removal of him and his deputy, Eric Igwe, from office.
According to a notice appeal filed in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/920/2021, Umahi, and his deputy stated that the Federal High Court erred in his ruling and they, therefore, disagreed with the entire judgment which ordered their sack for defecting to the All Progressive Congress (APC) from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
They listed eight grounds of appeal against the lower court’s judgment.
In the appeal document, Umahi and his deputy argued that the trial court was virtually setting aside the Supreme Court’s decision in the case involving the Attorney General of the Federation and former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, to the effect that there is no constitutional provisions prohibiting president or vice and invariably the governor and or deputy governor from defecting to another political party.
They averred that the trial court erred in law when it relied on sections 68 and 109 of the constitution in holding that, having defected from the PDP to the APC, he offended the provisions of the constitution and must vacate his office.
They further submitted that there is no provision in the constitution that states that a governor or deputy governor will vacate his office if he defects from his political party to another political party.
They, therefore, asked the appellate court to set aside the judgement of the Federal High Court.
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