Breaking: Supreme Court sacks Umar as Taraba acting governor
The court declared the impeachment of Abubakar Danladi in 2012 as deputy governor as null and void and ordered his immediate restoration as the acting governor of the state. In the lead judgment of a panel of seven justices led by Justice Sylvester Ngwuta, the apex court ruled that the panel that sat and investigated Danladi […]
The court declared the impeachment of Abubakar Danladi in 2012 as deputy governor as null and void and ordered his immediate restoration as the acting governor of the state.
In the lead judgment of a panel of seven justices led by Justice Sylvester Ngwuta, the apex court ruled that the panel that sat and investigated Danladi did not give him fair hearing.
Danladi was impeached as deputy governor of the state few months before Governor Danbaba
Suntai was injured in a plane crash which he personally was flying on October 25, 2012.
He was replaced with Alhaji Garba Umar who has been governor in acting capacity because of Governor Suntai’s ill health that resulted from the 2012 crash.
The Taraba State House of Assembly had on October 4, 2012 removed Mr. Danladi from office on purported allegations of fraud and abuse of office.
Majority of the state’s lawmakers, 20 of the 24 members of the Assembly, had voted to uphold the recommendations of a seven-member judicial commission of inquiry. The commission was named by the state’s then Acting Chief Judge, Josephine Tukur, to investigate allegations of gross misconduct against the deputy governor.
The commission said it found Mr. Danladi guilty of the allegations of gross misconduct.
The report had said Mr. Danladi used his office to divert Millennium Development Goals (MDG) projects to Yagai Academy, a private school, owned by him. It also indicted him for using his office to influence the posting of an officer and interfering in the affairs of his Karim-Lamido local government.
The panel also said the third allegation that Mr. Danladi did not convene a meeting of the state Boundary Commission, showed his incompetence.
But in impeaching the deputy governor at the time, both the House and the commission ignored the case filed by him against the composition and membership of the commission of inquiry. The case was then before a Taraba High Court.
Mr. Danladi’s downfall was at the time blamed on his tenuous relationship with the governor, Danbaba Suntai, who is said have become uncomfortable with his political ascendancy and affiliations with those Mr. Suntai considered his political rivals.
Analysts had at the time wondered why the charges, committed years back, surfaced at the time the two men fell apart.
Mr. Danladi was among those slated for the 2012 national awards in Abuja but was dropped reportedly on account of the controversy.
But less than a month after Mr. Danladi was removed, and replaced with Garba Umar, Mr. Suntai got involved in an air crash on October 25, 2012.
While Mr. Danladi continued to challenge his removal in court, Messrs Umar and Suntai became embroiled in a bitter power struggle that has remained largely unresolved.