The Federal Supreme Court in Abuja on Monday fired the President of the Cross River State AssemblyEteng Williams and 19 of his colleagues for his defection from the People’s Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Judge Taiwo Taiwo, while ruling on a lawsuit brought by the PDP to challenge the lawmakers’ defection, dismissed all preliminary objections raised by the fired lawmakers.
“Surely there must come a day when elected officials must ask the people who voted for them before defecting to other political parties,” Taiwo said.
He noted that “lawmakers dined and drank under the umbrella of the PDP” but left the party even when there was no justification for their action.
“The court documents of the defendants were fabricated and filed with loopholes. The papers are manifestly defective”, said the judge when granting all the relief requested by the PDP.
The defendants in the lawsuit were the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the APC, and the secretary of the Chamber of the State Assembly.
The sentence comes two weeks after Inyang Ekwo of the Abuja Federal High Court sacked Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi state, his deputy, Kelechi Igwe, along with 15 lawmakers from the state House of Assembly.
Details coming soon…