A Federal High Court on Wednesday restored Mahdi Gusau as the deputy governor of Zamfara following his impeachment by the state’s House of Assembly on February 23, 2022, inspite of a subsisting court order.
Naija News reports that the impeachment was set aside by Justice Inyang Ekwo, in a judgement.
The judge dismissed all the steps and actions taken by the House of Assembly, former Governor Bello Matawalle and the state’s chief judge in the purported impeachment of Gusau during the pendency of the suit in court.
He stated that the action of the then assembly’s speaker, ex-governor, chief judge and indeed others was an aberration and cannot be allowed to stand.
While decsribing it as “null and void and of no effect whatsoever,” Justice Ekwo said: “I agree with the learned silk for the plaintiff/applicant that the court must protect its dignity by reprimanding the 5th, 6th and 7th defendants (speaker, governor and chief judge) and undoing the steps, acts or proceedings taken in the impeachment while this suit was pending.”
The judge stated that contrary to the argument of counsel to 5th to 38th defendants, he did not see in any of the judicial authorities cited and relied upon by the lawyer that authorises any litigant to take extra-judicial action when a case was pending in court.
“Once parties have turned their dispute over to the court for determination, the right to resort to self-help ends.
“So, It is not permissible for one of the parties to take any step of complete helplessness, or which may give the impression that the court Is being used as a mere subterfuge, to tie the result of litigation and the appropriate order of court before acting further,” he said.
Recall that on June 29 2021, Governor Matawalle alongside three state’s senators, members of House of Representatives and that of House of Assembly had all dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Following their defection, the PDP and Gusau, the then deputy governor, who did not cross carpeted along with them, had in a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/650/2021, asked the court to declare their seats vacant having abandoned the party through which they got into the positions of power.
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 governor, the state and federal lawmakers.
They also sought for an order for INEC to issue certificates of return to each of the said candidates for the purpose of holding and occupying the said offices purportedly occupied by members of the APC “in defiance of the decision of the Supreme Court in SC. 377/2019: APC v. Senator Kabiru Garba Marafa and others for the unspent electoral term of office of May 29, 2019 to May 28, 2013.”
They also 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 FHC had, on July 19, 2021, restrained the House of Assembly from proceeding with its planned impeachment of Gusau as deputy governor.
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