- As C/River elects new governor today
By Sunday Ejike Benjamin, Lawrence Olaoye and Ahmed Idris
As Cross River state gets ready to elect a new governor today, the Supreme Court yesterday sacked the Governor of Kebbi State, Alhaji Usman Saidu Nasamu Dakingari of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from office.
Already the Speaker of the Kebbi state House of Assembly, Hon. Aminu Habibi Jega has been sworn in as the Acting Governor of the state at a ceremony performed by the state Chief Judge, Justice Ibrahim Umar yesterday evening.
The Supreme Court, in a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Walter Onoghen, upheld the ruling of the Kebbi Governorship Election petition Tribunal which earlier annulled the election and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a fresh election into the governorship position of Kebbi state within 90 days.
The Supreme Court, in the judgment set aside the ruling of the Sokoto Division of the Court of Appeal, which upheld Dakingari's election on the grounds that the court erred in law when it deferred the reason for its judgment to outside the 60 days allowed by the constitution.
The apex court consequently set aside the judgment of the court and in its place upheld the judgment of the trial tribunal, which had earlier nullified Dakingari's election and ordered a fresh one.
It would be recalled that the Court of Appeal while affirming the governor's election delivered its judgment on December 29, 2011 but deferred the reason for its decision beyond the 60 days prescribed by section 285 (7) and (8) of the 1999 constitution, as amended.
The court held that the Court of Appeal not being the final court in the determination of appeals arising from the conduct of governorship elections lacked the power to deliver judgment and defer the reasons for its decision, more so, to a date which is outside the mandatory 60 days prescribed by the Constitution.
"It is obligatory for the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court to dispose an appeal within 60 days from the date of the decision being appealed, section 285 (7) implies that both the decision and the reasons for those decisions, must be completed within the stipulated time. Any decision without a reason is no decision at all. The judiciary has no option than to work within the time frame provided by the law", the court held in the judgment.
The court subsequently allowed the appeal of the candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Abubakar Malam Abubakar which challenged the validity of the decision of the Court of Appeal and declared the Court of Appeals decision invalid and a nullity.
Briefing newsmen after he was sworn in, the state Acting Governor said he would follow the blueprint of the former governor even as he assured that Dakingari remains the governorship candidate of the party in the next election.
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