The celebration that greeted the ruling by the Enugu Appeal Court Ruling in favour of Ebonyi Governor, Dave Umahi and his deputy has been reduced to what it truly is (self deceit) following the clarification by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
On Friday, an appeal Appeal Court sitting in Enugu upheld the defection of Umahi to the All Progressives Congress, APC.
But in their reaction, Ebonyi State Chapter of the PDP clarified that the case was not related to the one bothering on the sacking of the governor by an Abuja High Court last month.
The Appeal ruling is based on the suit filed by Sen. Suny Ogbuoji and his running mate, Mr Mbam Ogodo, as the governorship and deputy governorship candidates of APC in the 2019 election in Ebonyi.
In the suit, the duo urged the court to declare that Umahi, having defected to the APC, ought to vacate the office so that they would be sworn-in having come second in the election.
PDP Publicity Secretary, Chika Nwoba in Ebonyi expressed optimism that the party would secure victory at the Appeal Court sitting in Abuja over the defection of Gov. David Umahi and his Deputy, Kelechi Igwe.
Nwoba who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abakaliki on Friday opined that: “Our party, the PDP, has full confidence that it will win at the Appeal Court, Abuja.
“The matter at the Appeal Court, Enugu is different from the one at the Appeal Court, Abuja.
“Today’s judgment in Enugu is between the APC governorship flag bearer in 2019 and Umahi.
“It is not the PDP and Umahi’s matter.
“In our own matter, we have confidence and hope to win at the Appeal Court, Abuja,” Nwoba further said.
Umahi and his deputy had in November 2020, defected from PDP, which was the platform they were elected, to the APC which the later challenged leading to the ruling by the Federal High Court, Abuja on March 8 sacking Umahi, his deputy, and the 15 lawmakers in the state over their defection from PDP to APC.
The judge, Inyang Ekwo, ordered the governor, his deputy, and the affected 16 lawmakers to vacate their offices immediately and ordered INEC to receive names of candidates from PDP to replace Umahi and Igwe.
Ekwo held that the votes in any election in Nigeria are to political parties and not candidates.
