How many people saw this coming? A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja
has ordered that the former Deputy Governor of Adamawa State, Mr. Bala
Ngilari, be sworn in as the state governor immediately.
The court ruled the purported resignation of Ngilari on July 14, 2014 as invalid, null and void. According to the court, the process breached the provisions of sections 306(1), (2) and (5) of the 1999 Constitution as the letter of resignation was addressed to the Speaker and acted upon by the House of Assembly.
Ngilari was deputy to impeached Governor Murtala Nyako. He had purportedly resigned after the impeachment of Nyako, a development that paved the way for the then speaker of the House of Assembly, Alhaji Umar Fintiri, who is now acting governor. Ngilari had gone to court to declare his resignation null and void and then be sworn in as governor
While delivering the judgement, Justice Adeniyi Ademola, ruled that Ngilari’s letter was written at a time when Nyako had not been removed, thus implying that the letter ought to have gone through Nyako, which it did not, thus rendering the resignation null and void.
He then ruled that Ngilari be sworn in as the substantive Adamawa State governor.
The implication of the judgement now is that the governorship bye-election scheduled for Saturday would no longer hold. It has also altered the political permutations in the state ahead of next year's general election.
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