The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the removal of Representative Abubakar Gummi from his seat for defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Mr. Gummi represented the Gummi/Bukkuyum Federal Constituency of Zamfara State in the House of Representatives.
Justice Obiora Egwuatu, in a judgment delivered on Thursday (with the certified true copy sighted on Friday), restrained the Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas, from recognizing Gummi as the member for the constituency.
The judge also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a fresh election for the vacancy within 30 days of the judgment.
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The suit, filed by the PDP and its Zamfara State Chairman, Jamilu Jibomagayaki, argued that Gummi’s retention of his seat was unconstitutional under Section 68 (1) (9) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), as he defected when there was no division in the PDP.
They also sought a declaration that the Speaker’s failure to declare the seat vacant was unconstitutional.
Gummi, through his lawyer, argued that his defection was justified by a “lingering unresolved internal and external crisis” within the PDP, both at the national level and in his constituency.
He claimed this crisis made it impossible for him to “represent his constituents properly and ensure that they all benefit from shared distribution of the dividends of democracy within the bounds of law, and without undue interference from anyone or anything.”
Justice Egwuatu granted all the reliefs sought by the plaintiffs and strongly condemned the conduct of some politicians who treat defection as “a normal culture.”
The judge’s powerful remarks emphasized political morality and the supremacy of the mandate:“Before I take my fingers off the key board, let me just add, that politicians should respect the wishes of the electorates that elected them into office.”
He stressed the legal and moral wrong of abandoning the party that sponsored an election:“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.”
Justice Egwuatu concluded that mandates are non-transferable:“If a person must decamp, don’t decamp with the mandate of the electorates… Don’t transfer the votes garnered on the platform of one party to another party. A politician has no such rights to transfer votes of a political party to another political party.”
He affirmed the need for legal consequences:“The law must punish such moves by taking away the benefits bestowed upon the decampee politician by the electorates. 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 consequently ruled that Gummi, having defected “before the expiration of the period the house was elected, automatically loses his seat as member of the House of Representatives.”
Justice Egwuatu issued severe financial orders against the lawmaker:
- Gummi is restrained from further receiving monies as salaries or allowances in his capacity as a member of the House.
- He must refund to the Federal Government all monies collected as salaries, allowances or howsoever called from October 30, 2024, to the date of the judgment.
- The court ordered that “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.”
- Finally, the judge awarded a fine of ₦500,000 in favor of the plaintiffs against the defendants.
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