{"id":60927,"date":"2022-03-09T17:45:07","date_gmt":"2022-03-09T16:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?p=60927"},"modified":"2022-03-09T17:20:17","modified_gmt":"2022-03-09T16:20:17","slug":"umahis-sack-why-govs-cant-be-removed-from-office-for-defecting-nnamdi-kanus-lawyer-ozekhome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/umahis-sack-why-govs-cant-be-removed-from-office-for-defecting-nnamdi-kanus-lawyer-ozekhome","title":{"rendered":"Umahi\u2019s sack: Why govs can\u2019t be removed from office for defecting \u2013 Nnamdi Kanu\u2019s lawyer, Ozekhome"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Chief Mike Ozekhome, the lead Counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, has faulted the ruling of an Abuja Federal High Court that sacked Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State and his deputy, Dr Eric Igwe.<\/p>\n

Ozekhome insisted that a governor and his deputy cannot be removed from office for changing political parties.<\/p>\n

Justice Inyang Ekwo had sacked Umahi and Igwe for defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the All Progressives Congress, APC.<\/p>\n

The judge ruled that the votes that produced Umahi and his deputy were obtained under the PDP, hence could not be transferred to the APC.<\/p>\n

Reacting, Ezekhome stressed that votes belong to the candidates and not political parties.<\/p>\n

In a statement he signed, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, said: \u201cThe appellate courts have since held again and again that votes cast in an election belong to a live candidate and not the political party which merely serves as a vehicle that enthrone candidates.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe implication of section 141 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) is that while a candidate at an election must be sponsored by a political party, the candidate who stands to win or lose the election is the candidate and not the political party that sponsored him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI, therefore, most respectfully submit (as held by appellate courts) that a political party is merely a vehicle in which a candidate can ride to contest an election and nothing more. The votes belong to the candidate and not the political party. The political party ceases to have any considerable relevance or insolence over a person that has won an election and has been sworn in as a legislator, Governor or President of the entire people, who are far larger than a mere political party.\u201d<\/p>\n

He pointed out that Section 308 of the Nigerian Constitution grants absolute immunity to the President, Vice President, Governor and Deputy Governor while in office.<\/p>\n

According to the SAN: \u201cConsequently, no civil or criminal proceedings could ever sustain against this set of persons, whilst still holding office.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing by the above plethora of authorities, I humbly submit that a Governor already sworn in cannot be removed by the Federal High Court through an Originating Summons. It will surely be set aside on appeal.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Nigeria<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. Chief Mike Ozekhome, the lead Counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, has faulted the ruling of an Abuja Federal High Court that sacked Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State and his deputy, Dr Eric Igwe. Ozekhome insisted that a governor and his deputy cannot be removed from office for changing political parties. Justice Inyang […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":60926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,28,14,26],"tags":[1570,2140,254,625,1150,998],"class_list":["post-60927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-nigeria-2","tag-nigeria","tag-nnamdi-kanu","tag-ozekhome","tag-umahi"],"yoast_head":"\nUmahi\u2019s sack: Why govs can\u2019t be removed from office for defecting \u2013 Nnamdi Kanu\u2019s lawyer, Ozekhome - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Chief Mike Ozekhome, the lead Counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, has faulted the ruling of an Abuja Federal High Court that sacked ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/umahis-sack-why-govs-cant-be-removed-from-office-for-defecting-nnamdi-kanus-lawyer-ozekhome\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Umahi\u2019s sack: Why govs can\u2019t be removed from office for defecting \u2013 Nnamdi Kanu\u2019s lawyer, Ozekhome\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Chief Mike Ozekhome, the lead Counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, has faulted the ruling of an Abuja Federal High Court that sacked ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/umahis-sack-why-govs-cant-be-removed-from-office-for-defecting-nnamdi-kanus-lawyer-ozekhome\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-03-09T16:45:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/img-6228d3a4e40fd.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/umahis-sack-why-govs-cant-be-removed-from-office-for-defecting-nnamdi-kanus-lawyer-ozekhome#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/umahis-sack-why-govs-cant-be-removed-from-office-for-defecting-nnamdi-kanus-lawyer-ozekhome\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Umahi\u2019s sack: Why govs can\u2019t be removed from office for defecting \u2013 Nnamdi Kanu\u2019s lawyer, Ozekhome\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-09T16:45:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/umahis-sack-why-govs-cant-be-removed-from-office-for-defecting-nnamdi-kanus-lawyer-ozekhome\"},\"wordCount\":399,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/umahis-sack-why-govs-cant-be-removed-from-office-for-defecting-nnamdi-kanus-lawyer-ozekhome#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/img-6228d3a4e40fd.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Nigeria\",\"Nigeria\",\"Nnamdi Kanu\",\"Ozekhome\",\"Umahi\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"Policy\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/umahis-sack-why-govs-cant-be-removed-from-office-for-defecting-nnamdi-kanus-lawyer-ozekhome#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/umahis-sack-why-govs-cant-be-removed-from-office-for-defecting-nnamdi-kanus-lawyer-ozekhome\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/umahis-sack-why-govs-cant-be-removed-from-office-for-defecting-nnamdi-kanus-lawyer-ozekhome\",\"name\":\"Umahi\u2019s sack: Why govs can\u2019t be removed from office for defecting \u2013 Nnamdi Kanu\u2019s lawyer, Ozekhome - Nigeria\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/umahis-sack-why-govs-cant-be-removed-from-office-for-defecting-nnamdi-kanus-lawyer-ozekhome#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/umahis-sack-why-govs-cant-be-removed-from-office-for-defecting-nnamdi-kanus-lawyer-ozekhome#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/img-6228d3a4e40fd.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-09T16:45:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Chief Mike Ozekhome, the lead Counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, has faulted the ruling of an Abuja Federal High Court that sacked ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/umahis-sack-why-govs-cant-be-removed-from-office-for-defecting-nnamdi-kanus-lawyer-ozekhome#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/umahis-sack-why-govs-cant-be-removed-from-office-for-defecting-nnamdi-kanus-lawyer-ozekhome\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/umahis-sack-why-govs-cant-be-removed-from-office-for-defecting-nnamdi-kanus-lawyer-ozekhome#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/img-6228d3a4e40fd.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/img-6228d3a4e40fd.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"Umahi\u2019s sack: Why govs can\u2019t be removed from office for defecting \u2013 Nnamdi Kanu\u2019s lawyer, Ozekhome\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/umahis-sack-why-govs-cant-be-removed-from-office-for-defecting-nnamdi-kanus-lawyer-ozekhome#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Umahi\u2019s sack: Why govs can\u2019t be removed from office for defecting \u2013 Nnamdi Kanu\u2019s lawyer, Ozekhome\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/\",\"name\":\"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Umahi\u2019s sack: Why govs can\u2019t be removed from office for defecting \u2013 Nnamdi Kanu\u2019s lawyer, Ozekhome - Nigeria","description":"Chief Mike Ozekhome, the lead Counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, has faulted the ruling of an Abuja Federal High Court that sacked ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/umahis-sack-why-govs-cant-be-removed-from-office-for-defecting-nnamdi-kanus-lawyer-ozekhome","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Umahi\u2019s sack: Why govs can\u2019t be removed from office for defecting \u2013 Nnamdi Kanu\u2019s lawyer, Ozekhome","og_description":"Chief Mike Ozekhome, the lead Counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, has faulted the ruling of an Abuja Federal High Court that sacked ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/umahis-sack-why-govs-cant-be-removed-from-office-for-defecting-nnamdi-kanus-lawyer-ozekhome","og_site_name":"Nigeria","article_published_time":"2022-03-09T16:45:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/img-6228d3a4e40fd.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/umahis-sack-why-govs-cant-be-removed-from-office-for-defecting-nnamdi-kanus-lawyer-ozekhome#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/umahis-sack-why-govs-cant-be-removed-from-office-for-defecting-nnamdi-kanus-lawyer-ozekhome"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Umahi\u2019s sack: Why govs can\u2019t be removed from office for defecting \u2013 Nnamdi Kanu\u2019s lawyer, Ozekhome","datePublished":"2022-03-09T16:45:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/umahis-sack-why-govs-cant-be-removed-from-office-for-defecting-nnamdi-kanus-lawyer-ozekhome"},"wordCount":399,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/umahis-sack-why-govs-cant-be-removed-from-office-for-defecting-nnamdi-kanus-lawyer-ozekhome#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/img-6228d3a4e40fd.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Nigeria","Nigeria","Nnamdi Kanu","Ozekhome","Umahi"],"articleSection":["all news","homepage-english","Policy","twitter"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/umahis-sack-why-govs-cant-be-removed-from-office-for-defecting-nnamdi-kanus-lawyer-ozekhome#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/umahis-sack-why-govs-cant-be-removed-from-office-for-defecting-nnamdi-kanus-lawyer-ozekhome","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/umahis-sack-why-govs-cant-be-removed-from-office-for-defecting-nnamdi-kanus-lawyer-ozekhome","name":"Umahi\u2019s sack: Why govs can\u2019t be removed from office for defecting \u2013 Nnamdi Kanu\u2019s lawyer, Ozekhome - Nigeria","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/umahis-sack-why-govs-cant-be-removed-from-office-for-defecting-nnamdi-kanus-lawyer-ozekhome#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/umahis-sack-why-govs-cant-be-removed-from-office-for-defecting-nnamdi-kanus-lawyer-ozekhome#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/img-6228d3a4e40fd.jpg","datePublished":"2022-03-09T16:45:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Chief Mike Ozekhome, the lead Counsel to Nnamdi Kanu, has faulted the ruling of an Abuja Federal High Court that sacked ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/umahis-sack-why-govs-cant-be-removed-from-office-for-defecting-nnamdi-kanus-lawyer-ozekhome#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/umahis-sack-why-govs-cant-be-removed-from-office-for-defecting-nnamdi-kanus-lawyer-ozekhome"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/umahis-sack-why-govs-cant-be-removed-from-office-for-defecting-nnamdi-kanus-lawyer-ozekhome#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/img-6228d3a4e40fd.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/img-6228d3a4e40fd.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080,"caption":"Umahi\u2019s sack: Why govs can\u2019t be removed from office for defecting \u2013 Nnamdi Kanu\u2019s lawyer, Ozekhome"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/umahis-sack-why-govs-cant-be-removed-from-office-for-defecting-nnamdi-kanus-lawyer-ozekhome#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Umahi\u2019s sack: Why govs can\u2019t be removed from office for defecting \u2013 Nnamdi Kanu\u2019s lawyer, Ozekhome"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/","name":"Africa Press | Nigeria | Homepage","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/author\/cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}