Gentlemen of the Press, I welcome you to this press conference.
It follows the sacking from office of the Ebonyi State Governor, His Excellency, Chief Dave Umahi, and his deputy, His Excellency, Chief Kelechi Igwe, by a Federal High Court for defecting to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
In the same ruling, the court, presided over by Justice Inyang Ekwo, also sacked the 17 members of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly who also defected with the governor and his deputy into the APC.
You will recall that Gov. Umahi, his deputy and the 17 lawmakers were elected on the PDP platform in 2015 and again in 2019, but defected to the APC on November 17, 2020, citing “injustice done to the South-East.”
And determined to reclaim our stolen mandates, the PDP had sued them and joined both the APC and INEC in the suit. We had prayed the court to declare that by defecting from the PDP, on whose platform they were sponsored and elected, Umahi, Igwe and the 17 lawmakers had resigned or deemed to have resigned from office on the day of their defections. And the Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, gave the PDP and democracy justice today.
In a landmark judgement, the court ruled that “the votes in any election in Nigeria are to political parties, and not candidates.”
Justice Ekwo consequently ordered all the affected persons to vacate office. He also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to receive names of candidates from the PDP to replace Messrs Umahi and Igwe.
First, we want to appreciate the Nigerian Judiciary for this landmark judgement. The ruling will bring order in the political space and check the issue of political rascality and stolen mandates. The judiciary is indeed the backbone of this democracy.
We also want to single out Justice Inyang Ekwo for special recognition, particularly for being courageous and forthright in going for the substance of the law rather than the technicalities.
And in line with the court order, PDP is immediately submitting to INEC the names of our candidates for Governor and Deputy Governor of Ebonyi state respectively.
We are also calling on INEC to immediately issue the Certificates of Return to the PDP nominees as replacement for Messrs Umahi and Igwe pursuant to the Order of the Honourable Court.
Furthermore, we call on the Chief Judge of Ebonyi state to immediately swear them in as soon as INEC issues the requisites Certificates of Return.
And lastly, we call on INEC to immediately withdraw the Certificates of Return from the 17 lawmakers and commence the process of conducting bye-elections to replace them.
Thank you all.