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Court of Appeal stops Sanusi’s reinstatement as Kano Emir
The court of appeal on Friday suspended the enforcement of its own ruling, which had overturned a federal high court decision invalidating the Kano state government’s repeal of the 2019 Emirate Council Law.
The appellate court’s decision puts a hold on its January 10 judgment, pending the outcome of an appeal filed at the supreme court
It would be recalled that on May 23, 2024, the Kano house of assembly passed the amended bill, which Abba Yusuf, the state governor, signed into law. This paved the way for Sanusi’s reinstatement as Emir of Kano.
The law repealed the 2019 version, which divided the Kano emirate into five jurisdictions and was relied upon to dethrone Muhammadu Sanusi II as emir in 2020.
Aggrieved by the decision, Aminu Agundi and Sarkin Babba of the Kano emirate approached the federal high court to restrain the respondents from enforcing, implementing, and operationalising the law that reinstated Sanusi.
On May 23, Abubakar Liman, a high court judge, ordered the defendants to “suspend” and “not give effect to the Kano State Emirate Council (Repeal) Law, 2024, as they affect all offices and institutions of the Emirate Council created according to the provisions of the Kano State Emirate Council Law, 2019”.
Although the defendants had challenged the court’s jurisdiction to hear the suit and the locus standi of the applicants, Liman on June 13 held that the applicants were at liberty to contest the legality of their dethronement.
In another ruling on June 20, Liman nullified all actions by the Kano state government repealing the Kano Emirates Council Law of 2019 and ordered parties to maintain the status quo pending the determination of the case.
However, in the verdict by the appellate court, Gabriel Kolawole, who delivered the lead judgment, held that the federal high court erred when it assumed the jurisdiction to hear the suit.
Kolawole then made an order to return the case file to the chief judge of the Kano state high court for reassignment to another judge.
Although Mustapha Mohammed and Abdul Dogo, the other presiding justices on the appeal court panel agreed with Kolawole that the federal high court had no jurisdiction to hear the issue, they disagreed that the matter should be sent back for retrial.
Consequently, the two justices struck out the proceedings of the federal high court for want of jurisdiction.
In a ruling on Friday, a three-member panel of the appeal court led by Okon Abang held that the two applications with numbers CA/KN/27M/2025 and CA/KN/28M/2025 filed by Aminu Agundi was meritorious.
Agundi, through his application filed on February 6, 2025, sought an order restraining the respondents from enforcing the appellate court’s judgment while an appeal was pending at the supreme court.
“The law is settled. The court is enjoined to exercise its discretion judiciously and in the interest of justice,” the court of appeal held while ruling on the application.
The Nigerian constitution, 1999, as amended provides that the legislative arm of government can impeach a governor if found to have committed gross misconduct.
To carry out such impeachment, below are the legal processes that the lawmakers must follow:
Step 1: A written allegation of gross misconduct against the governor must be signed by at least one-third of the members of the State House of Assembly and presented to the Speaker of the State House of Assembly.
Step 2: Within seven days, the Speaker of the House of Assembly is expected to serve the state governor with a copy of the notice of allegation.
Step 3: The governor has a right to reply to the allegation levelled against him. The state lawmakers must be served each with the response from the governor.
Step 4: Within 14 days of the presentation of the notice to the Speaker of the House, they shall resolve by motion without any debate whether or not the allegation shall be investigated. The motion must be passed by at least a two-thirds majority of all members of the State House of Assembly.
Step 5: If the motion fails to get two-thirds, the process shall be halted. If the required votes is met, then the Speaker shall within 7 days of the passing of the motion, request the Chief Judge of the State to appoint a Panel to investigate the allegations.
Step 6: Within three months, The panel is expected to report its findings to the State House of Assembly.
During the proceedings of the Panel, the Governor shall have a right to defend himself or have the right to be defended by a legal practitioner.
Step 7: Where the allegations of gross misconduct against the governor can not be proven, the impeachment proceedings shall end right there.
If the allegations can be substantiated, the House of Assembly shall consider the report and a resolution for adoption of the report shall be moved.
Step 8: At least two-thirds of members of the House of Assembly must vote in support of the resolution to be adopted and the governor shall be impeached while his motion to swear in his deputy shall be moved immediately and adopted.
The Rivers State House of Assembly on Monday served a notice of misconduct against the state governor, Siminalayi Fubara, and his deputy, Ngozi Odu.
According to Channels, the lawmakers claimed in the notice that the action was in line with the Nigerian Constitution.
“In compliance with Section 188 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), and other extant laws, we, the undersigned members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, hereby forward to you a Notice of Gross Misconduct by the Deputy Governor of Rivers State in the performance of the functions of her office,” the notice read.
Although the assembly earlier denied any move to impeach Fubara, there have been speculations about plots to remove the governor.
More to follow…
former Lagos State governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party during the 2023 general election, Abdul-Azeez Adediran, popularly known as Jandor, has officially returned to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
He announced his readiness to return APC today at a press briefing held at Liberty Place, Ikeja, in Lagos.
Jandor had on March 3 dumped the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP over what he described as anti-party activities of some leaders of the party in Lagos State.
After his public announcement over his decision to dump PDP, he had met with President Bola Tinubu, former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar and other prominent political bigwigs in the country.
However, he finally retuned the ruling party saying, “We have decided to join the political party that considers winning not minding who is in the ballot.
“We have decided to return to the All Progressives Congress, APC,” Jandor said.
He added, “Before you are quick to remind me of the reasons why I dumped APC, I want to say that there is a Yoruba adage that says, if a woman has not tried two husbands, she would not know which one is better. ”
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