Supreme Court sacks Taraba Acting Governor

The Supreme Court yesterday nullified the impeachment of Taraba State Deputy Governor, Alhaji Sani Abubakar Danladi and ordered his immedi­ate reinstatement.

Meanwhile, in compli­ance with the judgment of the apex court, the Federal Government through the office of the Attorney Gen­eral of the Federation and Minister of Justice has di­rected the Acting Governor of Taraba State, Alhaji Gar­ba Umar, to immediately hand over the reins of gov­ernance of the State to Mr. Sani Danladi, and ensure a smooth transition, in order to prevent a vacuum and guarantee the maintenance of constitutional order.
A statement by the So­licitor General of the Fed­eration and Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Justice, Alhaji Abdullahi Yola on behalf the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Mohammed Bello Ad­oke [SAN], equally called on the Inspector General of Police to take necessary steps towards the provision of adequate security in the state in order to prevent any breach of the peace and en­sure the sustenance of law and order.
The statement reads:
“The attention of the Honourable Attorney- General of the Federation and Minister of Justice has ‘been drawn to the Judg­ment of the Supreme Court delivered today, 21st No­vember, 2014, nullifying the impeachment of the Deputy Governor of Taraba State, Mr. Sani Danladi by the Taraba State House of Assembly due to the viola­tion of applicable constitu­tional provisions and extant rules.
Pursuant to the said Judgment, the Honourable Attorney- General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke, SAN, CFR hereby directs the Acting Governor of Taraba State, Alhaji Garba Umar, to im­mediately hand over the reins of governance of the State to the said Deputy Governor, Mr. Sani Dan­ladi, and ensure a smooth transition process, in order to prevent a vacuum in the governance of the State and guarantee the maintenance of Constitutional order.
The Honourable Attor­ney-General of the Fed­eration equally calls on the Inspector-General of Police to take necessary steps to­wards the provision of ad­equate security in the State within this transition period by the Nigeria police Force in order to prevent any breach of the peace and en­sure the sustenance of law and order.”
In a unanimous judg­ment of seven justices of the Supreme Court read by Justice Sylvester Ngwuta, the court held that the dep­uty governor was not given fair hearing by the panel.
Other justices on the panel are Samuel Onnogh­en, Bode Rhodes-Vivour, Kumayi Aka’ahs, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun and John Okoro.
Reading the lead judg­ment, Justice Ngwuta said: “In effect, at all material times, the appellant, Alhaji Sani Abubakar Danladi re­mained and still remains the deputy governor of Taraba State and he is to re­sume his interrupted duties of his office forthwith.”
In addition, the court fur­ther held that right from the composition of the seven-man panel the appellant was denied fair hearing just as it equally declared as illegal the sitting of the 19 members of the state House of Assembly at a guest house belonging to the ma­jority leader to prepare the impeachment notice.
According to the apex court, the sitting should have been at the hallowed chambers of the House add­ing that the the law makers breached section 188 of the 1999 constitution.
Justice Ngwuta de­scribed the impeachment panel as kangaroo panel adding that there was a conspiracy between the impeachment panel and the law makers.
He held that Danladi was denied the opportunity to prepare his defence or present his case before the panel.
Justice Ngwuta said fur­ther: “My noble Lords, the impact of what happened in the panel on the country’s impeachment jurisprudence is too alarming to contem­plate.
“Here is a panel that had three while months to in­vestigate the serious allega­tions of gross misconduct against the appellant, a dep­uty governor of the state. For no apparent reasons for the indecent haste, the panel completed its sitting and prepared and submitted its report to the Taraba State House of Assembly [be­tween September 28, 2012 and 3rd October 2012], a period of six days inclusive of the first and last dates.
“From the undisputed facts of this case, one has the inevitable but disturb­ing impression that the panel composed of the re­spondents was a mere sham and that the removal of the appellant from office was a done deal as it were.
“In my view, the respon­dents, in their purported in­vestigation of the allegation made against the appellant merely played out a script previously prepared and handed over to the panel.
“The most disturbing as­pect of the kangaroo panel is that it was headed by a man described in the pro­cesses before this court as a barrister- one barrister Nasiru Audu Dangiri.”The third member of the panel was also described as a banister- one barrister R.J. Ikitausai.
“If these two men are ac­tually members of the noble profession to which your Lordships and my humble self, by the grace of God have the honour to belong and not people who, for self-aggrandizement adopt­ed the nomenclature “bar­rister” , the harm they have deliberately perpetrated in this matter is so serious that the attention of the Disci­plinary Committee of the Bar ought to be drawn to it.
“Impeachment of elect­ed politicians is a very se­rious matter and should not be conducted as a mat­ter of course. The purpose is to step aside the will of the electorate as expressed at the polls. It has implica­tions for the Impeached as well as the electorate who bestowed the mandate on him. “Whether it takes one day or the three months prescribed by law, the rules of due process must be strictly followed. If the matter is left at the whims and caprices of politicians and their panels, a state or even the entire country could be reduced to a status of banana republic.”