By Ameh Ochojila, Abuja

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has ordered Governor Dave Umahi and his deputy, Dr Eric Kelechi Igwe, to immediately vacate office as governor and deputy governor of Ebonyi State.

The court held that by defecting from the party on which they were sponsored and elected as governor and deputy governor of Ebonyi State to the APC, a political party that did not win the election, they had resigned or are deemed to have resigned from office.

The court, therefore, restrained Dave Umahi and Eric Kelechi Igwe from parading themselves as governor and deputy governor of Ebonyi State.

The court ordered the Peoples Democratic Party to nominate candidates to replace Umahi and Kelechi as Governor and deputy governor of Ebonyi state respectively.

The court said the PDP should send such names to the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC).

The court further restrained INEC from recognizing Umahi and Igwe as governor and deputy governor of Ebonyi state.

In an originating summons marked FHC/ABJ/CS/920/2021, the PDP had principally urged the court to make a declaration that by defecting from the party on which they were sponsored and elected as governor and deputy governor of Ebonyi State to the APC, a political party that did not win the election, they had resigned or are deemed to have resigned from office.

The plaintiff stated that “by so doing, the defendants are deemed to have lost the majority votes scored at the election and consequently should be ordered by the court to vacate their respective offices like governor and deputy governor of Ebonyi State.”