Bauchi impeachment drama: Court reinstates sacked deputy governor
Justice Haruna Tsammani of High Court 4 while ruling over the case said, “the removal of the plaintiff (Mohammed Gadi) from office by the Bauchi State House of Assembly on the 13th August of 2009 based on the recommendation or report of the seven-man panel when the matter was still pending in court, is unconstitutional […]
Justice Haruna Tsammani of High Court 4 while ruling over the case said, “the removal of the plaintiff (Mohammed Gadi) from office by the Bauchi State House of Assembly on the 13th August of 2009 based on the recommendation or report of the seven-man panel when the matter was still pending in court, is unconstitutional and therefore null and void.”
Justice Haruna in his ruling also declared that it was unconstitutional, null and void, for the seven-man panel constituted to investigate the allegations against the former deputy governor not to give him the benefit of fair hearing before removing him from office.
Justice Tsammani in his ruling also ordered Babayo Garba Gamawa to vacate the office of Deputy Governor of Bauchi State which he now enjoys while the former deputy governor Mohammed Gadi be reinstated to the office of the Deputy Governorof the state.
“I hereby order that Hon. Babayo Garba Gamawa vacate the office of the Deputy Governor of Bauchi State forthwith, and ordered that Alhaji Garba Mohamed Gadi be reinstated to the office of the deputy governor of Bauchi State.” Justice Haruna further ruled that the deputy governor be paid the entire financial emolument from the date he was removed from office as the deputy governor of the state.
Lead Counsel to the Deputy Governor, Barrister Sani Garun Gabas, told reporters that they were not anticipating any problem from the state government but that if they opt to appeal, his client will respond. Reacting to the judgement, Alhaji Mohammed Garba Gadi said that the judgment shows that Nigerian legal system is functional.
In his reaction to, Barrister Ben Oguchi who held brief for Lateef Fagbemi SAN, counsels to the Bauchi State Government, told newsmen shortly after the judgment that the court had done its job but that if his clients are dissatisfied with the judgment they have an option to appeal and that they can go as far as the Supreme Court explaining that the position of the law provides for submission of application of “stay of the execution of the judgment” pending the determination of the suit at the court of appeal when the case is appealed against saying that they will take some time to study the judgment before acting. “The lower court has done its own bit it is left for our clients to decide, the moment they decide and instruct us we’ll go ahead and lodge an appeal, you know the judgment is appealable, we can appeal against it,” said Oguchi.
Efforts to get to hear from the state government proved abortive as calls made to the state Commissioner of Information, Alhaji Muhammad Tasi’u and those to the Special Adviser to the Governor on Political Matters, Abdulmumini Muhammad Kundak, did not go through.
Yuguda’s former Deputy, Alhaji Mohammed Garba Gadi, who paved the way for him to be the flag-bearer of the ANPP in 2007, was the first victim of the governor’s defection to the PDP. Yuguda allegedly engineered Gadi’s removal with the use of members of the state House of Assembly. The basis for the removal, many have said, is not cogent enough. Gadi was a permanent secretary in the ministry where Yuguda first worked as a young graduate some years back.
It could be recalled that members of the House of Assembly alleged gross misconduct against the former deputy governor and impeached him from office. It was alleged that members of the House of Assembly were given N10 million each to impeach Gadi. But the leadership of the House has refuted this several times. The political crisis in Bauchi reached a new high with the eventual impeachment of Gadi. He was also accused of collecting double estacode for a single trip to perform the 2008 Hajj in Saudi Arabia. The impeachment exercise followed the adoption of the seven-man panel’s report that was set up to investigate the allegations levelled against him by the State House of Assembly.
The removal of the embattled Deputy Governor had been in the works since March 2009, when his principal, Governor Isa Yuguda decamped from the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), their common platform in the 2007 governorship election, to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Reacting to the judgement, Alhaji Adamu Abdallah of ANPP in Abuja said the judgement was a landmark one and that the party was not surprised by it. He said when the initial impeachement issue began, they all viewed it as ‘legislative comedy’. “We are now fighting for the party and not anybody. The office of the deputy belongs to the party. So we cannot leave him,” Ume Ezeoke, ANPP Chairman was quoted as saying.
Barrister Inuwa Giwa, an Abuja-based legal practioner said the judgement was not suprising considering the concept of due process vis a vis the way and manner the panel was set up and other issues that sorrunded the case. “Though this is coming from the High Court, there is still the Appeal and Supreme courts, where I believe the case can be advanced to. This is a political case and elections are near. The other side will not just accept that verdict. I see them contesting it in the apex courts.”