The Federal High Court in Abuja has removed Rep. Abubakar Gummi from his seat for defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, Gummi, who represents the Gummi/Bukkuyum Federal Constituency of Zamfara State in the House of Representatives, was sacked by Justice Obiora Egwuatu in a judgment delivered on Thursday.
The judge also restrained Speaker Tajudeen Abbas from further recognising Gummi as a member of the House.
Justice Egwuatu ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct a fresh election to fill the vacant seat within 30 days from the date of the judgment.
NAN reported that the certified true copy of the judgment, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1803/2024, was obtained on Friday.
The suit was filed by the PDP and its Zamfara State Chairman, Jamilu Jibomagayaki, through their counsel, Ibrahim Bawa (SAN), with Hon. Abubakar Suleiman Gummi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and INEC listed as first to third defendants.
The plaintiffs sought several declarations, including whether, under Section 68(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), Gummi could lawfully retain his seat after defecting from the party that sponsored his election without any division in the PDP.
One of their prayers asked the court to declare it unconstitutional for the Speaker to fail to declare Gummi’s seat vacant.
In response, Gummi, through his counsel, filed a preliminary objection and a counter-affidavit, claiming his defection was caused by crises within the PDP.
He argued that internal and external disputes in the party, both nationally and in his constituency, made it impossible for him to effectively represent his constituents.
However, in his ruling, Justice Egwuatu granted all the reliefs sought by the plaintiffs and strongly criticised the culture of political defection in Nigeria.
He stated, “Before I take my fingers off the keyboard, let me just add that politicians should respect the wishes of the electorates that elected them into office.
“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.
“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 right to transfer votes of a political party to another political party.
“The law must punish such moves by taking away the benefits bestowed upon the decampee politician by the electorate.
“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 further ruled that by defecting to the APC before the expiration of his tenure, Gummi had automatically forfeited his seat.
The court also barred him from receiving any salaries, allowances, or entitlements as a member of the House and ordered him to refund all monies received from October 30, 2024, to the date of judgment.
“An order is made directing that the 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,” the judge said.
Additionally, the court awarded N500,000 in costs in favour of the plaintiffs against the defendants.
