A Federal High Court in Abuja has reinstated Mahadi Aliyu Gusau as the Deputy Governor of Zamfara State.
A Federal High Court in Abuja has annulled the February 2022 impeachment of Mahadi Aliyu Gusau as Deputy Governor of Zamfara State.
They also ordered that Gusau should be paid all his entitlements.
Gusau and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) filed the action over the moves that eventually led to his impeachment in February 2022 by the Zamfara State House of Assembly.
In Wednesday’s judgement, Justice Inyang Ekwo held that the indictment by the judicial panel constituted by former Governor Bello Matawalle and his impeachment was done in disregard to the matter before the court.
The judge said the action amounted to self-help and taking the law into their hands.
“An order is hereby made restoring the status quo of the Plaintiff/Applicant (Mahadi Aliyy Mohammed) wholly to the position of Deputy Governor of Zamfara State as of the 8th day of July 2021 when this suit was commenced.
“An order is hereby made setting aside all the steps taken, proceeding/proceedings conducted and acts or things done by the defendants in furtherance of the purported impeachment proceedings or impeachment of the Deputy Governor of Zamfara State, during the pendency of this suit before this court.”
As reported by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Matawalle, the three state’s senators, members of the House of Representatives and of House of Assembly had all decamped from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to All Progressives Congress (APC) on June 29, 2021.
Following their defection, the PDP and Gusau, the then deputy governor, who did not cross carpeted along with them, had in a suit asked the court to declare their seats vacant having abandoned the party through which they got into the positions of power.
The plaintiffs had sued the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), APC, President of the Senate, House of Representatives Speaker and House of Assembly Speaker as 1st to 5th defendants respectively.
They sought an order of mandatory injunction compelling INEC to accept the list of the PDP candidates issued for the purpose of holding and occupying the office of the governor, and the state and federal lawmakers.
Also, they sought an order compelling the defendants to swear in Gusau as governor on PDP’s platform to complete the tenure of office, among others.
The court gave the order following an ex parte application brought by the PDP’s lawyer, Ogwu Onoja, in which he canvassed that the House of Assembly, Matawalle and others were planning to impeach Gusau who refused to defect to APC.
Despite the order of the court, Gusau was impeached by the House of Assembly after receiving the report of the investigative panel constituted by the chief judge, Kulu Aliyu.
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