Abuja Federal High Court has booted a lawmaker for defecting from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), sending shockwaves through Nigeria’s political scene.
The loser is Abubakar Gummi representing the Gummi/Bukkuyum Federal Constituency of Zamfara in the House of Representatives.
The ruling comes amid rising tensions over party’s defections and marks a major victory for anti-defection efforts in the country.
Guardian reports that in a judgment delivered on Thursday, October 30, Justice Egwuatu, restrained the Speaker, House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, from further recognising Gummi as a member representing Gummi/ Bukkuyum Federal Constituency.
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Delivering judgment, Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the court also made an order directing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a fresh election to fill the vacancy for the constituency within 30 days from the day of the judgment.
The suit, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1803/2024, was filed by the PDP and its state’s Chairman, Jamilu Jibomagayaki, as 1st and 2nd plaintiffs.
The duo, in the originating summons dated November 28 but filed on November 29, 2024, by Ibrahim Bawa, SAN, had sued Hon. Abubakar Suleiman Gummi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and INEC as the 1st to 3rd defendants, respectively.
The plaintiffs had set out four questions for determination and sought nine reliefs.
They asked whether, having regard to the provision of Section 68 (1) (9) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), it was not unconstitutional for Gummies to retain his seat as a member in the house. They said he defected from the PDP, which had sponsored him for the election to the Gummi/Bukkuyum Federal Constituency, to the APC, when there was no division in the party, among other questions.
One of the reliefs sought was a declaration that it was unconstitutional for the speaker to refuse/fail to declare Gummi’s seat vacant.
Gummi, in his response through his lawyer, filed a notice of preliminary objection and a counter affidavit. The lawmaker argued that his decampment was due to the crisis within the party.
He stated, contrary to the plaintiffs’ deposition, that the lingering, unresolved internal and external crises, both at the national level and in his constituency, are the reasons for his defection from the party to the APC.
Gummi said the crisis resulted in a state in which he could no longer properly represent his constituents or ensure that they all benefited from the shared distribution of democracy’s dividends within the bounds of law, without undue interference from anyone or anything.
However, Justice Egwuatu granted all the plaintiffs’ reliefs. The judge condemned the attitude of some politicians who see defection as a normal practice.
“Before I take my fingers off the keyboard, let me just add that politicians should respect the wishes of the electorate that elected them into office.
”A situation where the electorates have made their choices between different political parties and their candidates based on the manifestos and marketability of such a political party, it is legally and morally wrong for such a politician to abandon the party under which platform he or she was elected into office and move to a rival party without relinquishing the mandate of his or her former party.
”If a person must decamp, don’t decamp with the mandate of the electorate. Don’t transfer the votes garnered on the platform of one party to another party. A politician has no such right to transfer votes of a political party to another political party.
”The law must punish such moves by taking away the benefits bestowed upon the decampee politician by the electorate. And that is what Section 68 (1) (g) of the Constitution has done. Political prostitution must not be rewarded. In total, I resolve all the issues in favour of the plaintiffs and against the defendants,” Justice Egwuatu said
The judge, therefore, ordered that Gummi, having defected from PDP to APC “before the expiration of the period the house was elected, automatically loses his seat as a member of the House of Representatives.”
He made an order restraining Gummi from further receiving monies as salaries, allowances or whatsoever called in his capacity as a member representing the constituency.
Egwuatu also made an order directing the lawmaker to refund to the Federal Government all monies collected as salaries, allowances or whatsoever called as a member representing the constituency from October 30, 2024, to the date of judgment.
“An order is made directing that the evidence of the refund of all monies collected as salaries, allowances, or howsoever called be filed in the registry of this court within 30 days of the judgment of this court,” he said.
Justice Egwuatu consequently awarded a fine of N500,000 in favour of the plaintiffs and against the defendants.
