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| Ebonyi Governor, Dave Umahi |
Reprieve may have come the way of embattled Ebonyi Governor, Dave Umahi and his Deputy Kelechi Eze, as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has stayed action over the Federal High Court judgement that sacked them from office.
The Commission said that it became imperative to suspend all actions on the Court judgment due to conflicting orders from various Courts of coordinate jurisdiction.
Umahi and his Deputy were removed from office by the Court for defecting from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the platform on which they were elected, to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
INEC, in a statement by its National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, noted: “It will be recalled that the Commission met on Thursday 17th March 2022 on the matter, decided to defer its deliberation on the Ebonyi cases and stepped down the listed Memorandum to enable its Legal Services and Clearance Committee to study the new processes served on it in the light of the previously served ones and advise the Commission comprehensively.
“Since then, the Commission has been served yet more Court Processes on the same matter, bringing the total to twelve. The Commission deliberated extensively on these cases and decided to further suspend action on the defection of the Governor and Deputy-Governor of Ebonyi State and sixteen members of the State House of Assembly from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the light of the conflicting judgements and orders served on it from Courts of coordinate jurisdiction.
“The Commission also considers it prudent to stay action on the conflicting judgements and orders being aware of the pendency of Appeals and Motions for Stay of Execution of some of the judgements before various divisions of the Court of Appeal”.
