The Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday rescheduled the trial in a lawsuit filed against Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade over his defection last year from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The judge, Taiwo Taiwo, who had previously set Wednesday for his trial, postponed it until Thursday to consider the latest meaning of the latest decision of the Court of Appeal in Enugu, Enugu State, involving the desertion of a governor. and his alternate.
In the decision formally presented to the judge on Wednesday, the Enugu Court of Appeal dismissed the legal action seeking to remove Governor David Umahi and his deputy, Kelechi Igwe, from their posts for swapping the PDP for the APC. last year.
Weeks ago, the parties in the case brought by the PDP against Mr. Ayade and his deputy had closed their arguments and the judge postponed the sentence.
But just 72 hours before the scheduled trial on the lawsuit, APC’s lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, filed a request on Monday to bring to the attention of the judge, Mr. Taiwo, the Court of Appeal’s latest decision on the matter.
Mr. Ozekhome, in the application, urged Mr. Taiwo to consider the decision of the Enugu Court of Appeals to reach his decision which was scheduled to be delivered on Wednesday.
In Wednesday’s proceedings, the judge asked lawyers for the parties to the lawsuit to address the court about the Court of Appeal’s decision in Mr. Umahi’s case.
The arguments of the PDP
Meanwhile, the PDP’s lead attorney, Emmanuel Ukala, Nigeria’s lead attorney, argued at the hearing that the facts and circumstances of Mr. Umahi’s case were different from those of Mr. Ayade.
The PDP’s lawyer argued that “the protections in the judgment of the Court of Appeals were three, and different from the protections in this case.”
Ukala said the Court of Appeals in its decision made a sweeping statement that the only way a governor could be removed from office was through impeachment by parliament.
“The core issues that we asked this court to interpret were absent in that Court of Appeals case.
“My Lord, a desertion constitutes a vacancy from office by the governor and his deputy,” said Mr. Ukala, adding that “this decision (of the Court of Appeals) cannot be a judicial precedent to decide this matter (of the Court of Appeals). Mr. Ayade)”.
APC’s arguments
In response, Mr. Ozekhome contradicted Mr. Ukala’s argument, saying that “all remedies and questions for determination in this case before the court are exactly the same” as the subject matter of the case in the Court of Appeal.[ffthecaseattheCourtofAppeal[ffthecaseattheCourtofAppeal
Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate for Nigeria (SAN), told the court that after a governor and his deputy are sworn in, they can no longer be removed for defecting to another political party.
Citing Section 40 of the Nigerian constitution, Mr. Ozekhome noted that Mr. Ayade exercised his right to freedom of association enshrined in the Nigerian constitution by joining APC.
After hearing arguments from lawyers, the judge set Thursday for trial on the matter.
It was the second time the judge had postponed the trial. The court rescheduled it before March 25 until today because it was not ready.
Background
The PDP had sued Ayade and 20 state legislators, her former members, over her defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in May 2021.
The PDP had urged the court to declare their seats vacant because of their defection.
Last month, Taiwo granted the plaintiff’s sentences in one of the lawsuits by firing the Speaker of the Cross River State Assembly and 17 of his colleagues along with two members of the House of Representatives for defecting to the APC.
The judge held that “there were no justifiable reasons” for his desertion.
But the court set March 25 for its decision on the defection of Ayade and his deputy.
However, on March 25, the court rescheduled the trial for Wednesday (April 6), arguing that the verdict was not ready.
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After the rescheduling of the sentence, the Enugu Court of Appeals, Enugu State, delivered its verdict on Friday on the defection of Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State and his deputy, who had similarly abandoned the PDP for APC on last year. .
The Court of Appeal’s decision came a few weeks after the Federal High Court in Abuja sacked Umahi and his deputy for their desertion. The governor and his deputy have since appealed the sentence, but the Abuja Court of Appeal has yet to set a hearing date.
Messrs Umahi and Igwe had defected from the PDP to the APC in November 2020
After his desertion, the candidate of the APC In the 2019 gubernatorial election, Sonni Ogbuoji and his deputy, Justin Mbam, approached an Ebonyi State High Court seeking the dismissal of the governor and his deputy.
They lost in the High Court and then appealed to the Enugu Court of Appeal, which also dismissed their case on Friday.
The appeals court, in the decision, agreed that the immunity clause in the Nigerian constitution does not protect the president, vice president, governors or lieutenant governors from being sued over issues that may be spent once they leave office.
But he argued that Nigeria’s constitution does not provide for the category of heads of the executive branch of government to lose their seats due to their defection from a political party on whose platform they win their election to another party.