By Ikechukwu Nnochiri
ABUJA— The Federal Excessive Courtroom sitting in Abuja has sacked a member of the Home of Representatives, Abubakar Gummi, following his defection from the Peoples Democratic Get together (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The court docket, in a judgment delivered by Justice Obiora Egwuatu, ordered the lawmaker who represents Gummi/Bukkuyum Federal Constituency of Zamfara to refund to the Federal Authorities all monies he collected as salaries and allowances, starting from October 30, 2024, when he decamped to the APC.
“An order is made directing that the proof of the refund of all monies collected as salaries, allowances, or howsoever known as, be filed within the registry of this court docket inside 30 days of the judgment of this court docket,” the choose added.
Moreover, the court docket restrained the Speaker of the Home of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, from additional recognizing Gummi because the federal lawmaker representing the constituency.
It directed the Impartial Nationwide Electoral Fee (INEC) to, inside 30 days, conduct a contemporary election to fill the vacant seat.
The judgment adopted a go well with marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1803/2024, introduced earlier than the court docket by the PDP and its Zamfara state chairman, Jamilu Jibomagayaki.
The plaintiffs, within the originating summons they filed on November 29, 2024, by means of a staff of legal professionals led by Mr. Ibrahim Bawa, SAN, cited the sacked lawmaker, the Speaker of the Home of Representatives, and INEC as the first, 2nd, and third defendants, respectively.
They, amongst different issues, prayed the court docket to find out whether or not, having regard to the provisions of Part 68(1)(g) of the 1999 Structure, as amended, it was not unconstitutional for the lawmaker who decamped from the political get together that sponsored his election to proceed to retain the seat.
Insisting there was no disaster within the get together to validate the lawmaker’s motion, the plaintiffs argued that it was incorrect for him to switch PDP’s electoral victory to the APC.
The plaintiffs equally urged the court docket to declare that it was unconstitutional for the Speaker of the Home to refuse or fail to declare Gummi’s seat vacant.
In the meantime, the court docket dismissed objections the embattled lawmaker raised to problem the competence of the go well with.
In his preliminary objection, Gummi had argued that his defection was resulting from crises he stated bedeviled the PDP. He claimed the lingering inside and exterior crises at each the nationwide degree of the get together and in his constituency knowledgeable his resolution to affix the APC. He instructed the court docket that the disaster had reached a stage the place he might now not signify his constituents correctly to make sure they benefited from the dividends of democracy with out undue interference from anybody or something.
In his judgment, Justice Egwuatu criticized the perspective of politicians who see defection as a traditional follow.
He stated: “Earlier than I take my fingers off the keyboard, let me add that politicians ought to respect the needs of the electorates who elected them into workplace.
“A state of affairs the place the electorates have made their selections between totally different political events and their candidates primarily based on the manifestos and marketability of such a political get together is legally and morally incorrect for a politician to desert the get together underneath which platform she or he was elected and transfer to a rival get together with out relinquishing the mandate of the previous get together.
“If an individual should decamp, don’t decamp with the mandate of the electorates.
Don’t switch the votes garnered on the platform of 1 get together to a different get together.
“A politician has no proper to switch votes of a political get together to a different get together.
The regulation should punish such strikes by taking away the advantages bestowed upon the decampee by the electorates. And that’s what Part 68(1)(g) of the Structure has carried out.
“Political prostitution should not be rewarded. In whole, I resolve all the problems in favor of the plaintiffs and in opposition to the defendants.”
The court docket held that the lawmaker, having defected from PDP to APC earlier than the expiration of the interval for which the Home was elected, “routinely loses his seat as a member of the Home of Representatives.”
It issued an order restraining Gummi from additional receiving monies as salaries, allowances, or howsoever known as, in his capability because the member representing the constituency.
The court docket additionally awarded a value of N500,000 in favor of the plaintiffs.
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