Gov Umahi free to defect to APC, Court of Appeal affirms

The Appeal Court sitting in Abuja has upheld the defection of the Ebonyi State governor, Dave Umahi, from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressive Congress.

A three-man panel of the Court led by Justice Haruna Tsanami gave the verdict in its judgment on Friday.

Recall that the Federal High Court, Abuja had on March 8 ordered the removal of Umahi and his deputy over their defection to the All Progressive Congress despite winning the governorship election on the Peoples Democratic Party platform.

Dissatisfied, Umahi, through his lawyer, Chukwuma Ma-Chukwu Ume, SAN, approached the appellate court for redress.

In the panel’s judgment, it held that only impeachment proceedings by legislators can remove a governor.

Justice Haruna subsequently quashed the lower court’s judgment, adding that the constitution does not sanction the removal of a governor on the basis of defection.