By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has sacked a member of the House of Representatives, Abubakar Gummi, following his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

The court, in a judgment delivered by Justice Obiora Egwuatu, ordered the lawmaker who represents Gummi/Bukkuyum Federal Constituency of Zamfara to refund to the Federal Government all monies he collected as salaries and allowances, beginning from October 30, 2024, when he decamped to the APC.

“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 added.

Additionally, the court restrained the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, from further recognizing Gummi as the federal lawmaker representing the constituency.

It directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to, within 30 days, conduct a fresh election to fill the vacant seat.

The judgment followed a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1803/2024, brought before the court by the PDP and its Zamfara state chairman, Jamilu Jibomagayaki.

The plaintiffs, in the originating summons they filed on November 29, 2024, through a team of lawyers led by Mr. Ibrahim Bawa, SAN, cited the sacked lawmaker, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and INEC as the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd defendants, respectively.

They, among other things, prayed the court to determine whether, having regard to the provisions of Section 68(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, it was not unconstitutional for the lawmaker who decamped from the political party that sponsored his election to continue to retain the seat.

Insisting there was no crisis in the party to validate the lawmaker’s action, the plaintiffs argued that it was wrong for him to transfer PDP’s electoral victory to the APC.

The plaintiffs equally urged the court to declare that it was unconstitutional for the Speaker of the House to refuse or fail to declare Gummi’s seat vacant.

Meanwhile, the court dismissed objections the embattled lawmaker raised to challenge the competence of the suit.

In his preliminary objection, Gummi had argued that his defection was due to crises he said bedeviled the PDP. He claimed the lingering internal and external crises at both the national level of the party and in his constituency informed his decision to join the APC. He told the court that the crisis had reached a stage where he could no longer represent his constituents properly to ensure they benefited from the dividends of democracy without undue interference from anyone or anything.

In his judgment, Justice Egwuatu criticized the attitude of politicians who see defection as a normal practice.

He said: “Before I take my fingers off the keyboard, let me add that politicians should respect the wishes of the electorates who 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 is legally and morally wrong for a politician to abandon the party under which platform he or she was elected and move to a rival party without relinquishing the mandate of the 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 right to transfer votes of a political party to another party.

The law must punish such moves by taking away the benefits bestowed upon the decampee by the electorates. 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 favor of the plaintiffs and against the defendants.”

The court held that the lawmaker, having defected from PDP to APC before the expiration of the period for which the House was elected, “automatically loses his seat as a member of the House of Representatives.”

It issued an order restraining Gummi from further receiving monies as salaries, allowances, or howsoever called, in his capacity as the member representing the constituency.
The court also awarded a cost of N500,000 in favor of the plaintiffs.