The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal on Friday reversed the March 8 judgment by Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, which sacked Ebonyi Governor, David Umahi and his deputy for defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
A three-member panel of the appellate court held in its judgment that the 1999 Constitution did not provide any punishment for a Governor or Deputy Governor who defected from the party on which platform he/she was elected.
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In the lead judgment delivered by Justice Haruna Tsanami, the upper court held that the only option opened to a political party, aggrieved by the defection of a Governor or Deputy Governor, is to explore the impeachment option provided in the Constitution.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja aligned with an earlier decision on the same issue given by the court’s Enugu division.