The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has deferred decision on the court order sacking the Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, his Deputy, Kelechi Igwe and 16 House of Assembly members to next week.
An Abuja court kicked them out of office for decamping from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on whose platform they were elected to the party in power at the federal level, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The INEC decision, reached at its meeting on Thursday, March 17, 2022, according to a statement, same Thursday, by Festus Okoye, National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, is because more than nine separate Orders and Motions from different courts on the matter have been served the Commission, the latest being brought to the Commission’s attention Thursday when it was about to begin deliberation on the Orders and Motions already with them.
Pointing out that 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 statement said another meeting will be held next week “to deliberate on the matter and thereafter make its decision public.”
The Commission noted also that at its meeting, Thursday, it 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. ”
Full text of statement reads:
PRESS RELEASE
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) met today, Thursday, March 17, 2022, and 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.
Festus Okoye Esq
National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee.
Thursday 17th March 2022.
