Anxiety is said to have gripped six governors in the country as the Supreme Court, Monday, adjourned 13 appeals that arose from governorship elections held in the states on March 9, 2019.
The apex court, which had in its cause-list for Monday, okayed hearing in appeals seeking to nullify the outcome of governorship elections in Kano, Imo, Sokoto, Plateau, Bauchi and Benue State, suddenly suspended its proceedings after one of the Justices developed an undisclosed sickness.
The Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Tanko Muhammad, who led a seven-man panel of Justices, announced a stand-down of all the appeals, midway into hearing on the case challenging the election of governor Ganduje of Kano State.
The appeal against Ganduje was lodged before the court by the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Abba Yusuf.
Yusuf’s lawyer, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, had after the matter was called up, identified and adopted all the processes his client filed against Ganduje of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
After Awomolo adopted his brief of argument and urged the apex court to allow the appeal and nullify Ganduje’s re-election, the CJN, notified parties that a member of the panel was “seriously sick”.
He said: “Due to unforeseen circumstances, please the court will abruptly rise because one of us is seriously sick.”
The CJN declined to disclose the identity of the ailing jurist.
However, the announcement by the CJN marked the second time the apex court panel vacated the courtroom for their chambers, Monday.
The CJN had about 9:02 a.m., when the court commenced sitting, led other Justices out of the courtroom, citing “excessive noise.”
He warned that the court would not resume until the noise, occasioned by a mammoth crowd that struggled for standing space in the courtroom, was brought down.
Consequently, senior lawyers were restricted to appear with only five juniors, even as security operatives reduced the number of non-lawyers in the court.
The crowd had defied heavy security presence around the court premises that included sniffer dogs, to push their way inside the courtroom.
Meanwhile, when the court resumed at 9:20 a.m., Yusuf’s lawyer, Awomolo, SAN, apologised to the panel for the noisy atmosphere which he blamed on non-lawyers.
Responding, the CJN said: “It is all right, but we went out for a different purpose, and when the purpose was achieved, we came back.”
About 20 minutes after the CJN stood-down, all the appeals owing to the sudden sickness of a member of the panel, a clerk of the court subsequently announced that all the appeals would be adjourned till today.
Aside from Ganduje, others awaiting the decision of the apex court on appeal against their election are governors Emeka Ihedioha of Imo State, Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto, Simon Lalong of Plateau, Samuel Ortom of Benue and Bala Mohammed of Bauchi state.
There are four separate appeals relating to the Imo state governorship dispute.
While the first case marked was filed by Ifeanyi Ararume of the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, the two other appeals were lodged against governor Ihedioha by Senator Hope Uzodinma of the APC and Uche Nwosu of the Action Alliance, AA, respectively.
Governor Ihedioha who won at both the tribunal and the Court of Appeal equally filed a cross-appeal to challenge the minority judgment of the appellate court that gave victory to Senator Uzodinma of the APC.
In Sokoto State, the governorship candidate of the APC, Ahmed Sokoto, in his appeal, challenged the declaration of Tambuwal of the PDP as the valid winner of the gubernatorial contest in the state.
In a counter move, Tambuwal who won the election with a slim margin of 342 votes after a supplementary poll, and was declared the winner by both the tribunal and the appellate court, also filed his own appeal.
On the governorship dispute in Plateau State, while the candidate of the PDP, Senator Jeremiah Useni, in his appeal, queried the election of Governor Lalong on the ground that election in the state was characterized by irregularities.
On his own, Lalong also filed a Cross-Appeal.
In Bauchi, the former governor of the state, Mohammed Abubakar, who lost his re-election bid on the platform of the APC, in his appeal, challenged his defeat by former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Bala Mohammed of the PDP.
The ex-governor filed his petition after he had conceded defeat to his successor.
Meantime, in Benue State, the governorship candidate of the APC, Emmanuel Jime, in his appeal, prayed the apex court to void governor Ortom’s re-election.
Likewise, Ortom who won at both the tribunal and the Court of Appeal, also filed a Cross-Appeal, challenging the legal competence of the appeal against his election victory.
