Delivering judgment on Thursday, Obiora Egwuatu, the
presiding judge, held that Gummi’s defection was unconstitutional since there
was no division in the PDP at the time he left the party.

The judge restrained Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the House of
Representatives, from further recognising Gummi as a member of the lower
chamber.

In addition, Egwuatu ordered the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a fresh election to fill the vacant seat
within 30 days.

The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1803/2024, was filed by the PDP
and its Zamfara state chairman, Jamilu Jibomagayaki, through their lawyer,
Ibrahim Bawa.

The plaintiffs asked the court to determine whether Gummi’s
defection from the PDP—which sponsored his election—to the APC was lawful, and
whether the speaker’s failure to declare his seat vacant violated section
68(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

In his defence, Gummi argued that his defection was
triggered by what he described as “lingering unresolved internal and external
crises” within the PDP at both national and constituency levels.

He claimed that the situation made it impossible for him to
effectively represent his constituents and ensure equitable distribution of
democratic dividends.

However, the judge dismissed the argument and granted all
the reliefs sought by the plaintiffs.

The judge criticised the growing trend of political
defections, describing it as a betrayal of the electorate’s mandate.

“Before I take my fingers off the keyboard, let me just add
that politicians should respect the wishes of the electorates that elected them
to office,” he said.

“A situation where the electorate have made their choices
between different political parties and their candidates based on the
manifestos and marketability of such a political party, it is legally and
morally wrong for such a politician to abandon the party under whose platform
he or she was elected into office and move to a rival party without
relinquishing the mandate of his or her former party.

“If a person must decamp, don’t decamp with the mandate of
the electorate. Don’t transfer the votes garnered on the platform of one party
to another party.

“A politician has no such rights to transfer votes of a
political party to another political party.

“The law must punish such moves by taking away the benefits
bestowed upon the decampee politician by the electorate. And that is what
Section 68 (1) (g) of the Constitution has done. Political prostitution must
not be rewarded.”

The judge consequently ordered that Gummi “automatically
loses his seat as a member of the House of Representatives.”

He further restrained the lawmaker from receiving any form
of remuneration from the federal government and directed him to refund all
salaries and allowances earned from October 30, 2024, until the date of
judgement.

“An order is made directing that the evidence of the refund
of all monies collected as salaries, allowances or howsoever called be filed in
the registry of this court within 30 days of the judgement of this court,” the
judge said.

Egwuatu also awarded N500,000 in costs against the
defendants in favour of the plaintiffs.