Ebonyi: INEC in receipt of 10 court orders over defection of Gov. Umahi, Deputy, House members

OBIORA IFOH, Abuja 

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that it has been served with with Ten separate Orders and Motions from various Courts on the matter involving the defection of Ebonyi State Governor Dave Umahi, his deputy and sixteen members of the State House of Assembly from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

INEC according to the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee Festus Okoye said that it is very much concerned with the rising tide of litigation amounting to seventy-one cases in the last three months. It however said that it has decided to defer its deliberation on the Ebonyi cases to enable its Legal Services and Clearance Committee to study the processes.

The statement read in parts, “The Commission deliberated on a wide range of issues, including the rising tide of litigations that do not directly involve the Commission, but in which the principal parties joined it.

“The Commission was briefed by its Litigation and Prosecution Department, including an update on litigations, showing that in the last three months, the Commission has been joined in seventy-one new cases in various Courts across the country. Most of these cases, including the widely discussed one on Ebonyi State, involve either intra-party issues or litigants seeking for various reliefs from the Courts that entail consequential orders that are binding on the Commission.

“THE CASE OF EBONYI STATE

The Commission today listed this matter for deliberation. It involves Court cases on the defection of the Governor and Deputy-Governor of Ebonyi State and sixteen members of the State House of Assembly from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC). The Commission has been served with nine separate Orders and Motions from various Courts on this matter. Just as the Commission was about to commence deliberation on them, its attention was drawn to additional Court processes served today in respect of the matter.

“Consequently, the Commission decided to defer its deliberation on the Ebonyi cases and stepped down the listed Memorandum to enable its Legal Services and Clearance Committee to study the new processes in the light of the previously served ones and advise the Commission comprehensively. The Commission will meet again next week to deliberate on the matter and thereafter make its decision public.”