Court Sacks Ebonyi Senator Ogbuoji For Defecting From PDP To APC, Asks Him To Refund Salaries.

The Federal High Court sitting in Abakaliki has declared the Ebonyi South Senatorial District seat being occupied by Sonni Ogbuoji vacant and ordered him to vacate the seat immediately.

The judgment was delivered on Thursday by Justice Akintola Aluko of the Abakaliki Division of the court.
Delivering a 71-page judgement, Justice Aluko held that that Ogbuoji, who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressive Congress (APC) in 2018, flouted Section 68(1)g of the 1999 Constitution.

The said section 68 (1)g bars elected lawmakers from defecting to another party except if the party on whose platform they were elected is divided or in crisis.
The court also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the certificate of return issued to the senator and to conduct a fresh election to fill the seat.

Also, the court ordered the lawmaker to refund to the coffers of government all monies, be it salaries, allowances or any order form of payment, he may have received as benefits from the position from the date of his defection.

The judgement was in respect of suit number FHC/AI/CS/44/2018 filed by Evo Ogbonnaya Anegu, Oti Ama Ude, Uche Richard Ajali, Una Sunday Okoro and Simon Ajali Ogbadu for themselves and on behalf of the members of the PDP in Ebonyi South Senatorial District.

They had sued Ogbuoji and INEC (2nd defendant), asking the court to declare Ogbuoji’s seat vacant for defecting to the APC when there was no crisis or division in the PDP.
Reteirating the position of the law on the matter,the judge said: “Section 68 (1)g says that 'a member of Senate or House of Representatives shall vacate his seat in the house if being a person whose election to the house was sponsored by another political party'.

“The person shall vacate his seat if he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which he was elected, provided that his membership of the latter political party is not as a result of a division in the political party, which he was previously a member.

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Posted: at 20-04-2019 09:16 PM (5 years ago) | Hero

If this is true then 90% of our politicians should also be sacked because defection without crisis in a political party has always been the order of the day,the motive is always for selfish gains rather party crisis.We are waiting for 2022 to witness another defection galore prior to the 2023 general elections.

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Posted: at 21-04-2019 11:01 AM (5 years ago) | Gistmaniac

What of the mass defection that happened left, right, and centre in 2018 prior to elections???
Saraki, dogara, tambuwal, and the rest should be sacked immediately and they should return all salaries and allowances they collected.

Posted: at 21-04-2019 11:27 AM (5 years ago) | Hero