The Federal High Court in Abuja has sacked Abubakar Gummi, the lawmaker representing Gummi/Bukkuyum Federal Constituency of Zamfara State in the House of Representatives.
The court sacked him for defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
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Judge Obiora Egwuatu, in his judgement, restrained the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, from further recognising Mr Gummi as the member representing Gummi/Bukkuyum Federal Constituency.
He declared that a lawmaker it is morally wrong for a politician to transfer the votes of a political party to another. “Political prostitution must not be rewarded,” he added.
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The judge said that a situation where the voters 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.”
The Nigerian constitution expressly provides that lawmakers at the federal and state levels must vacate their seat if they defect from the party that sponsored their election without showing that the party has been so crisis-ridden that it can no longer function. Over the years, the Supreme Court has given effect to the constitutional provision by sacking lawmakers that defected without legal basis. But the constitution is silent on the defection of the president, governors and their deputies.
Mr Egwatu restrained Mr Gummi from receiving any salaries, allowances, or benefits in his capacity as a lawmaker.
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The judge also ordered him to refund to the Federal Government all monies received as salaries or allowances from 30 October 2024 to the date of the judgment.
“An order is made directing that the evidence of the refund of all monies collected as salaries, allowances, be filed in the registry of this court within 30 days of the judgment of this court,” Mr Egwuatu ruled.
He advised that if a person must defect, the person should not “decamp with the mandate of the electorates,” nor “transfer the votes garnered on the platform of one party to another party.”
According to a copy of the judgment, which was delivered on Thursday, 30 October, and obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the judge awarded N500,000 in favour of the plaintiffs and against the defendants.
He also directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a fresh election to fill the vacancy for the constituency within 30 days of the judgment.
The suit
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1803/2024, was filed by the PDP and its state chairman, Jamilu Jibomagayaki, as first and second plaintiffs.
The duo, in the originating summons dated 28 November but filed on 29 November 2024 by Ibrahim Bawa (SAN), sued Hon Abubakar Suleiman Gummi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and INEC as first to third defendants respectively.
The plaintiffs raised four questions for determination and sought nine reliefs:
They asked whether, having regard to Section 68(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), it was not wrongful and unconstitutional for Mr Gummi to retain his seat after defecting from the PDP, which sponsored his election, to the APC, when there was no division in the party.
One relief sought was a declaration that it was wrongful and unconstitutional for the Speaker to refuse or fail to declare Mr Gummi’s seat vacant, having defected from the PDP to the APC without any division in the party that sponsored his election.
In his response, through his lawyer, Mr Gummi filed a notice of preliminary objection and a counter affidavit. He argued that his defection was caused by the crisis within the PDP.
He said, contrary to the plaintiffs’ claims, the unresolved internal and external crises within the party at both the national level and in his constituency made it impossible for him to properly represent his constituents.
The lawmaker said it was his responsibility to ensure that his constituents benefited from the dividends of democracy within the bounds of the law and without undue interference.
Judgement
Delivering judgment on Thursday, Mr Egwuatu granted all the reliefs sought by the plaintiffs.
The judge condemned the attitude of politicians who treat defection as a normal political culture.
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He explained that the law must punish such actions by taking away the benefits bestowed on a decamping politician by the electorate. “And that is what Section 68(1)(g) of the Constitution has done,” he stated.
The judge therefore held that Mr Abubakar, having defected from the PDP to the APC “before the expiration of the period the House was elected, automatically loses his seat as member of the House of Representatives representing Gummi/Bukkuyum Federal Constituency, Zamfara State, and the seat became vacant from 30 October 2024 when the first defendant defected.”
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