Ebonyi court grants Umahi, deputy permission to remain in office for 7 days

A high court in Ebonyi state has granted an interim order allowing David Umahi and Eric Igwe to remain in office as governor and deputy governor of the state.

Henry Njoku, the presiding judge, had on February 28 dismissed a suit brought by Sunny Ogbuoji, the All Progressives Congress candidate and runner up in the 2019 governorship election, which sought Umahi’s sack for defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC.

Njoku had held that Umahi and his deputy did not flout any law by their defection.

However, in a similar suit filed by the PDP at a federal high court in Abuja, Inyang Ekwo, the judge, sacked the duo for defecting.

Ekwo held that the 393,042 votes polled by Umahi in the March 2019 governorship election belonged to the PDP and cannot be legally transferred to the APC.

Consequently, Ekwo ordered the PDP to present another candidate or in the alternative, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should conduct a fresh poll within 90 days.

Consequently, the governor and his deputy filed an ex parte application at the Ebonyi court seeking an order to retain their seats.

They prayed the court to declare that its initial judgement remains valid, and as such, should have precedence over any other contrary judgement — and should be binding on all parties.

In his ruling, Njoku granted the prayers sought by the duo and adjourned the matter to March 16 for hearing on the motion on notice.

“It is hereby ordered as follows, an interim order of this honourable court for seven days(subject to renewal) is hereby granted in view of the judgement in suit no. HAB/13/22 delivered on the 28th day of February 2022, being a judgement in rem and having precedence over any contrary judgement,” the judge ruled.

“The applicants hereto Engr David Nweze Umahi and Dr Eric Kelechi Igwe shall accordingly remain and not be removed from office as governor and deputy governor of Ebonyi state respectively.”

Umahi and Igwe have since appealed the Abuja court’s decision and have filed an application seeking a stay of execution.