A Federal High Court (FHC) in Abuja has issued an order restoring Mr. Mahdi Gusau as the Deputy Governor of Zamfara.
The court ruling comes after Gusau’s impeachment by the state’s House of Assembly on February 23, 2022, despite an existing court order.
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Justice Inyang Ekwo, delivering the judgment, declared all 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 pending court case as null and void. Justice Ekwo emphasized that such actions were an aberration and could not be allowed to stand.
“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,” he said.
The judge expressed agreement with the plaintiff’s argument that the court must protect its dignity by reprimanding the defendants involved and undoing the steps taken in the impeachment process while the case was pending. He further stated that none of the judicial authorities cited by the defendants’ counsel authorised taking extra-judicial action during the pendency of a court case.
The case arose when Matawalle, three senators, members of the House of Representatives, and the state House of Assembly defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on June 29, 2021. In response, the PDP and Gusau, who did not cross-carpet, filed a lawsuit seeking to declare their seats vacant due to their abandonment of the party through which they gained their positions of power.
The plaintiffs named the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), APC, President of the Senate, House of Representatives Speaker, and House of Assembly Speaker as defendants in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/650/2021.