Ebonyi State governor, David Umahi, says he has mobilised seventeen (17) Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) to appeal the Federal High Court judgement, which sacked him from office.

He, however, reversed the alleged uncomplimentary statement made against the trial judge of a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, Justice Inyang Ekwo, and tendered apology to the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).

Umahi made this known while addressing over 2,000 members of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), Ebonyi State chapter, including stakeholders of the state at a solidarity rally that took place at the Udensi roundabout, staged to declare their support and loyalty to the governor.

He said he had mobilised over 17 SANs to appeal the judgement of Justice Ekwo, wherein he was sacked for defecting from the opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to the ruling APC.

Umahi said he had no regret in defecting to the ruling APC and threatened to engage in battle with the opposition party, PDP in Ebonyi State, especially for trying to distract his administration.

“I’m still the governor of Ebonyi State, and I’m still working. I said the lawyers of PDP are the ones doing forum shopping, and I’m going to write against the lawyers to NBA to discipline them because the judge was misled.

“The blame was not on the judge. The blame is on the PDP lawyers who misled the judge. And I’m using the opportunity to let Nigerians know that nobody castigated the judge and we will not, and because the matter was not before any judge.

“Today, we have appealed the judgement. We have done three things; we have done the appeal at Enugu, and when I say that, we have two judgement, I say that the judgement in Ebonyi state which has equal powers with that of Abuja. We said we will obey the judgement in Ebonyi state. We will appeal the judgement of Abuja. We didn’t say we will disobey otherwise we would have not appealed.

“We are before the Appeal of Enugu state and that of Abuja. We have also filed a stay of execution. So, we are still the governor and deputy governor of Ebonyi state” he stated.NBA describes Umahi’s reaction to court order as executive rascality

Meanwhile, The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) yesterday described the reaction of Ebonyi State governor, Dave Umahi, to the court order which sacked him from office as executive rascality.

Umahi had, while reacting shortly after the court gave its verdict, accused Justice Inyang Ekwo of being on a mission to embarrass the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the Federal Government.

He alleged that the judgment was purchased by the People Democratic Party (PDP) and boldly declared that he won’t obey the court verdict.

The embattled governor claimed that Justice Ekwo is handling over 10 cases against the Ebonyi State government.

He insinuated that the judge was bent on ruling against the state government in all the cases.

Umahi added that the Ebonyi State government had asked the National Judicial Council (NJC) to sanction the judge.

Reacting to Umahi’s comments, the NBA, in a statement by its national president, Olumide Akpata, stressed that the governor’s response was impunity of the highest order and executive rascality taken too far.

“Following the judgment, 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 Hon. Justice Ekwo, including but not limited to describing the judgment as “jungle justice” and His Lordship as “a hatchet man”.

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“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.”

Although he said the NBA was not interested in the outcome of the suit, Apata stressed that the association would not ignore Umahi’s “unprovoked and unwarranted attack on the judiciary”.

Akpata said Umahi was expected to have called for calm from his supporters and assured them that all legal and constitutional avenues would be explored to challenge the judgment instead of giving such a response.

The NBA demanded for an immediate apology from the governor and a retraction of the comments he made against the person and judgment of the court.