The Federal High Court in Abuja has declared the seat of Representative Abubakar Gummi, who represents Gummi/Bukkuyum Federal Constituency of Zamfara State, vacant following his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Delivering judgment yesterday Justice Obiora Egwuatu held that Gummi’s defection was unconstitutional and in violation of Section 68(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which forbids lawmakers from abandoning the political party that sponsored their election unless there is a division within that party.
The court ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a fresh election within 30 days to fill the vacant seat.
It also restrained the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, from further recognizing Gummi as a member of the National Assembly.
The suit was filed by the PDP and its Zamfara State Chairman, Jamilu Jibomagayaki, who argued that Gummi’s continued stay in office after defecting to another party was a gross violation of the Constitution.
They maintained that there was no division within the PDP to justify his defection.
In his defense, Gummi claimed that persistent “internal and external crises” within the PDP at both national and constituency levels forced his move to the APC.
He said the conflict made it impossible for him to represent his constituents effectively.
Justice Egwuatu, however, dismissed this argument, describing it as “an afterthought.”
He emphasized that the mandate given to a lawmaker belongs to the political party, not the individual.
“A situation where the electorates have made their choices between different political parties and their candidates based on the manifestos of such parties, it is legally and morally wrong for such a politician to abandon the party under which he or she was elected,” the judge stated.
“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. A politician has no such right.”
Condemning what he described as the “culture of political prostitution,” Justice Egwuatu ruled that Gummi automatically lost his seat the moment he defected before the expiration of the term for which he was elected.
The court went further to issue stringent financial orders against the lawmaker. Gummi was restrained from receiving any further salaries or allowances as a member of the House of Representatives and was ordered to refund all earnings collected from October 30, 2024, to the date of judgment.
The court also directed that evidence of the refund be filed with the court registry within 30 days, and awarded a cost of ₦500,000 in favor of the PDP against the defendants.
In a strongly worded remark, Justice Egwuatu called for greater political morality and respect for the electorate:
“Politicians should respect the wishes of the electorates that elected them into office. The law must punish such moves by taking away the benefits bestowed upon the decampee politician by the electorates.”
With this ruling, Gummi has become the latest lawmaker to lose his seat on account of unconstitutional defection, reaffirming the judiciary’s stance against the growing trend of cross-carpeting among Nigerian politicians.
