“The Court declared that a Governor seizes to be under the control the political party under which he was elected and he can only be removed from office in line with the provisions of sections 180, 188 and 189 of the 1999 Constitution.”
By Saidu Idris
365Daily – A suit seeking to remove the Governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle, from office for defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), has been dismissed by the Sokoto Court of Appeal.
Counsel to Matawalle, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), said the Court delivered the judgment on Wednesday, July 14, 2022.
According to him, it affirmed an earlier verdict of the Gusau Federal High Court which he said threw out the case against the Governor.
He said the panel of three Justices of the Court of Appeal led by A. A. Gumel, held in its unanimous judgement that a Governor cannot lose his seat on the grounds of defection from one party to another, 2hile citing provisions of Section 40 of the Constitution.
The Court also held that the Nigerian Constitution does not provide punishment for a Governor who defects to another Party in exercise of his constitutional right of freedom of association.
Furthermore, the Court declared that a Governor seizes to be under the control the political party under which he was elected and he can only be removed from office in line with the provisions of sections 180, 188 and 189 of the 1999 Constitution.
In addition to the N1 million cost earlier awarded in favour of each of the respondents by the trial court, the Court of Appeal awarded another cost of N1 million against the appellants in favour of the governor and his former deputy governor, the first and second respondents, Mahadi Ali, respectively.
In a related development, the court also dismissed the cross-appeal filed by the impeached Deputy Governor of Zamfara State, Mahadi Ali Gusau, seeking to be declared the Governor following Gov Matawalle’s defection to the APC.
The Court the request could not be granted as Matawalle’s defection from PDP to APC was not sufficient grounds to remove him and install Gusau as replacement