On Wednesday, Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State retracted an alleged unflattering statement made about Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja, and apologised to the Nigeria Barr Association, NBA.
In Ebonyi State, Umahi apologised while speaking to nearly 2,000 members of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, at a solidarity rally held at the Udensi roundabout to reaffirm their support and devotion to the governor.
He stated that he has mobilised over seventeen (17) Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) to appeal the judgement of the Federal High Court in Abuja, presided over by Justice Inyang Ekwo, in which he was dismissed for defecting from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Umahi said he had no remorse over defecting to the ruling APC and warned to fight the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ebonyi State for attempting to derail his administration.
"I'm still the Governor of Ebonyi State, and I'm still doing my job." I stated that the PDP lawyers were forum shopping, and I intend to write to the NBA to have them disciplined because the judge was deceived. The judge was not to blame. The PDP lawyers are to fault for misleading the judge.
"And I'm taking use of this occasion to assure Nigerians that no one has chastised the judge, and we will not, since the case was not before a judge."
"We have filed an appeal against the decision today." We've done three things: we've filed an appeal in Enugu, and when I say we've got two judgments, I'm referring to the one in Ebonyi State, which has the same authority as the one in Abuja.
We stated that we will follow the ruling in Ebonyi State. The Abuja ruling will be appealed. We didn't say we'd defy, or we wouldn't have filed an appeal.
"We are in front of the Enugu State Appeal and the Abuja Appeal." We've also filed a motion for a stay of execution. As a result, we remain the Governor and Deputy Governor of Ebonyi State," he remarked.