BREAKING: Court Sacks 20 Lawmakers from Another State for Defecting to APC
- Another landmark judgement in the history of Nigerian politics has been delivered at a Federal High Court in Abuja
- Justice Taiwo Taiwo, the presiding judge, sacked 20 members of the Cross River State House of Assembly for dumping the PDP for the APC
- The judge said the lawmakers had not justification for leaving the party upon which they were elected for the ruling party
FCT, Abuja - A Federal High Court in Abuja has sacked 20 members of the Cross River State House of Assembly, including the Speaker, Eteng Williams.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had instituted a suit against the lawmakers over their defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Source: Facebook
The judge, Taiwo Taiwo, while delivering judgement on a suit instituted by the PDP to challenge the lawmakers’ defection, dismissed all the preliminary objections raised by the sacked lawmakers, Premium Times reported.
He was quoted to have said:
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“A day must surely come when elected officials, must ask the people who voted for them before defecting to other political parties."
No justification for leaving PDP, judge says
The judge noted that “lawmakers wined and dined under the umbrella of the PDP,” but ditched the party even when there was no justification for their action.
He said as he granted all the reliefs sought by the PDP:
“The defendants court documents were contrived and filed with loopholes. The papers are manifestly defective."
Legit.ng gathers that the defendants in the suit were the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the APC and clerk of the State House of Assembly.
Court sacks Umahi, deputy, Ebonyi lawmakers
Legit.ng recalls that the latest judgement comes two weeks after Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja sacked Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi state, his deputy, Kelechi Igwe, along with 15 lawmakers in the state House of Assembly.
Justice Ekwo, in a judgment on Tuesday, March 8, held that their defection was unconstitutional because the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won the election on March 2019 and not its candidate.
Having defected to the APC, Governor Umahi and his deputy cannot transfer the mandate of the PDP to the APC, the court held.
Source: Legit.ng
