Abuja, October 31, 2025 – Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court in Abuja has removed Honourable Abubakar Suleiman Gummi, the member representing Gummi/Bukkuyum Federal Constituency of Zamfara State in the House of Representatives, from office following his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In a landmark judgment delivered on Thursday, October 30, 2025, Justice Egwuatu ruled that Gummi’s defection violated Section 68(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), which mandates that a lawmaker who abandons the political party that sponsored his election must vacate his seat unless there is a division in the national leadership of the party.
The court restrained the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, from further recognizing Gummi as a member of the lower chamber. Justice Egwuatu also issued a mandatory order directing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a fresh election to fill the vacancy in the Gummi/Bukkuyum Federal Constituency within 30 days from the date of the judgment.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1803/2024, was instituted by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its Zamfara State Chairman, Jamilu Jibomagayaki, as 1st and 2nd plaintiffs respectively. The defendants were Hon. Abubakar Suleiman Gummi (1st defendant), the Speaker of the House of Representatives (2nd defendant), and INEC (3rd defendant).
The originating summons, dated November 28, 2024, and filed on November 29, 2024, by Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Ibrahim Bawa, posed four key questions for determination and sought nine declaratory and injunctive reliefs.
Among the questions was whether, in light of Section 68(1)(g) of the Constitution, it was lawful for Gummi to retain his seat after defecting from the PDP — the party under whose platform he was elected in the 2023 general election — to the APC, in the absence of any proven division within the PDP at the national level.
The plaintiffs sought, among other reliefs, a declaration that the Speaker’s failure to declare Gummi’s seat vacant was unconstitutional, an order compelling INEC to conduct a by-election, and a directive for Gummi to refund all salaries and allowances received since his defection.
In his defense, Gummi, through his counsel, filed a notice of preliminary objection and a counter-affidavit, arguing that his defection was justified by “lingering, unresolved internal and external crises” within the PDP, both at the national level and in his constituency. He claimed the crisis made it impossible for him to effectively represent his constituents or ensure equitable distribution of democratic dividends without undue interference.
However, Justice Egwuatu rejected Gummi’s defense, holding that the lawmaker failed to provide credible evidence of a division in the PDP’s national leadership as required by the Constitution to justify defection without losing his seat.
Delivering the judgment, the judge granted all nine reliefs sought by the plaintiffs in their entirety.
“Before I take my fingers off the keyboard, let me just add that politicians should respect the wishes of the electorates that elected them into office,” Justice Egwuatu stated.
He continued: “A situation where the electorates 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 which 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 electorates. Don’t transfer the votes garnered on the platform of one party to another party. A politician has no such right 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 court declared that Gummi, having defected from the PDP to the APC “before the expiration of the period for which the House was elected,” automatically lost his seat as a member of the House of Representatives.
In addition to ordering INEC to conduct a by-election within 30 days, Justice Egwuatu issued the following directives:
An order restraining Gummi from further receiving any salaries, allowances, or emoluments in his capacity as a member representing Gummi/Bukkuyum Federal Constituency.
A mandatory order directing Gummi to refund to the Federal Government all monies collected as salaries, allowances, or by any other name, from October 30, 2024 — the date of his defection — to the date of the judgment.
A further order requiring Gummi to file evidence of the refund in the court’s registry within 30 days of the judgment.
The court also awarded a cost of N500,000 in favor of the plaintiffs and against the defendants.
The judgment has been widely seen as a strong judicial statement against political defection, often referred to as “carpet-crossing,” and reinforces the constitutional provision aimed at preserving the integrity of electoral mandates.
Legal analysts note that the ruling aligns with previous Supreme Court decisions, including Abegunde v. Ondo State House of Assembly (2015), which held that defection without proof of division in a party’s national leadership automatically triggers vacancy of the legislator’s seat.
As of the time of this report, neither Gummi nor the APC has issued an official response to the judgment. However, sources close to the lawmaker indicate that an appeal may be filed.
The PDP, through its Zamfara State Chairman, Jamilu Jibomagayaki, welcomed the ruling, describing it as “a victory for constitutional democracy and the will of the people.”
INEC is expected to comply with the court’s order and announce a timetable for the by-election in the coming days.
The Gummi/Bukkuyum Federal Constituency, located in Zamfara North Senatorial District, has been represented by Gummi since 2023. The constituency comprises Gummi and Bukkuyum Local Government Areas and is predominantly rural with a significant agrarian population.
This development comes amid heightened scrutiny of political defections in Nigeria, with several lawmakers switching parties ahead of the 2027 general elections. The judgment is likely to serve as a deterrent to similar moves, particularly in the absence of verifiable internal party crises at the national level.
The full certified true copy of the judgment is expected to be made available to the parties within the next seven days.
