The Supreme Court has sacked the Deputy
Governor (who is the Acting Governor) of Taraba
State, Garba Umar, on the ground that the
process leading to the impeachment of his
predecessor, Sani Abubakar Danladi was
unconstitutional.
The court voided Danladi’s impeachment and
ordered that he be reinstated.
Justice Sylvester Ngwuta, who read the lead
judgment of a seven-man panel that held an
appeal by Danladi, upheld his (the appellant’s)
argument that he was not accorded fair hearing
by the panel that investigated the allegations
against him and found him guilty of gross
misconduct.
Danladi, in the appeal marked: SC 418/2013 had
prayed the court to set aside the earlier decisions
by the Court of Appeal, Yola and the Taraba
State High Court, which affirmed his
impeachment.
Danladi was impeached by the state’s House of
Assembly on October 4, 2012 on ground of gross
misconduct. He had accused the now ailing
Governor Danbaba Suntai of influencing the
legislators’ action.
He challenged the impeachment at the state’s
High Court, but the court in its judgment of March
19, 2013 upheld the impeachment.
He went before the Court of Appeal, Yola, which equally upheld
the impeachment in its judgment of July 19, 2013,
prompting Danladi to approach the Supreme
Court.
No comments: