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NBA Flays Umahi’s Attack on Judge over Sack from Office
* Demands apology, retraction of alleged unsavoury comments
Alex Enumah in Abuja
The umbrella body of lawyers in the country, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), on Wednesday rose with indignation against Governor of Ebonyi State, Mr Dave Umahi, for making unsavoury comments against a judge of the Federal High Court.
Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja had ordered the immediate sack of Umahi and his deputy, Mr Kelechi Igwe, from office on account of their defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2020.
Both Umahi and Igwe had contested and won the 2019 governorship election under the platform of the PDP.
However, both of them dumped the PDP for the APC in 2020, an action that later resulted to a litigation from the PDP.
Justice Ekwo, in sacking Umahi and Igwe, noted that their continued stay in office was illegal, null and unconstitutional having left the PDP for the APC.
The judge stated that votes in an election belong to the party and not the individual and since the said votes are not transferable, the governor and his deputy cannot take votes belonging to PDP to APC, hence they have to leave office and contest election under APC if they so desire to be governor and deputy.
However, in his immediate reaction to the judgment, Umahi had, in a press briefing, attacked the person and judgment of Justice Ekwo, an action the NBA said was not only unwarranted but a display of impunity.
“The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has noted with utter dismay, the unfortunate and totally unacceptable reaction of Engr. Dave Umahi to the judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja delivered on March 8, 2022, by Justice Inyang Ekwo which inter-alia ordered him and Mr. Eric Igwe to vacate the offices of governor and deputy governor, respectively, of Ebonyi State on grounds of their defection from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.
“Following the judgment, Engr. Umahi, in the course of a press conference – video evidence of which is currently making the rounds on both new and mainstream media – threw caution to the wind and deployed very uncomplimentary adjectives and intemperate language in characterising both the judgment and Justice Ekwo, including but not limited to describing the judgment as jungle justice and His Lordship as a hatchet man.
“As if these were not enough, Engr. Umahi accused the court of murdering justice and also arrogated to himself the judicial powers and magisterial authority to declare the judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction as null and void while unashamedly declaring his intention to disregard the judgment in favour of another. To put it plainly, this is impunity of the highest order and executive rascality taken too far,” the NBA stated in a press statement released to journalists on Wednesday.
President of the NBA, Mr Olumide Akpata, who signed the statement, noted that although the NBA has absolutely no interest in the outcome of the case in question and will continue to stay away from partisan politics, it would not “sit idly by in the face of this unprovoked and totally unwarranted attack on the Judiciary”.
Akpata disclosed that the leadership of the NBA has been inundated with calls from a cross-section of well meaning Nigerians who are understandably outraged by the utterances of Umahi and who have rightly demanded that appropriate action be taken to protect the sanctity of the Judiciary.
“It is for this reason that we condemn without equivocation, Engr. Umahi’s unfortunate diatribe which, if it had emanated from an average litigant, would still have been regarded as shocking but coming from one who occupies the exalted office of a state governor, is nothing short of a national embarrassment.
“In the wake of the judgment, one would have expected Engr. Umahi to sue for calm from his supporters and to assure them that all legal and constitutional avenues would be explored to challenge the judgment. For Umahi to instead resort to attacking and denigrating the high office of a judge in this unprecedented manner is disgraceful, undemocratic and completely unacceptable,” he said.
“We view Engr. Umahi’s reaction to this judgment as being consistent with the current penchant, on the part of those in the executive arm of government, for intimidating the Judiciary whilst taking advantage of the historical reluctance of that arm of government to rise to its own defence.
“In light of the forgoing, the NBA hereby demands an immediate apology from Dave Umahi and a retraction of the comments he made against the person and judgment of Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court. It is also our demand that this apology and retraction is given as much media coverage as the press conference where the unfortunate comments were made,” he added.
