By Oluwatosin Maliki
In the past few weeks, courts have been sacking state governors, the most recent case was on Sunday, as the Court of Appeal, led by Justice Elphreda Williams-Dawodu, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to withdraw the Certificate of Return given to Governor Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau State.
Thereafter, the court declared Nentawe Goshwe of the All Progressives Congress the rightful winner of the March 18th governorship election, ordering INEC to issue a new Certificate of Return to him.
So far, courts have sacked at least three governors whose elections were contested by opposing parties, though, one election was declared inconclusive, barely nine months after the elections.
Here is the list of sacked state governors and the grounds given by the court:
1. Abba Kabir Yusuf (NNPP)
In Kano State, Abba Kabir Yusuf is a member of the (NNPP), he received a total of 1,019,602 votes to defeat the APC, whose candidate, Nasir Gawuna, received 890,705 votes, according to INEC, as a result the NNPP candidate emerged the winner by a margin of 128,897 votes.
However, the Election Petitions Tribunal, which was presided over by Justice Oluyemi Osadebay, invalidated the election of Governor Yusuf. The tribunal made this decision by declaring 165,663 votes, garnered by Yusuf invalid.
The court held that the ballot papers for the 165,663 votes were not signed or stamped, according to the judge, and thus were invalid.
Consequently, the court ordered that Yusuf’s certificate of return be revoked and that a fresh one be issued to Gawuna.
Similarly, the Court of Appeal in Abuja also upheld the tribunal’s decision.
This constituted a three-member panel, led by Justice M.A Adumeh, who pointed out that Yusuf was not on his political party’s membership list.
Furthermore, he stated that a party is expected to hold the names of its registered members in both hard and soft copies, while citing a clause of the Electoral Act.
The judge stated that the tribunal erred in failing to disqualify Yusuf in its ruling.
The statement partly read, “The tribunal was wrong not to have disqualified him. The failure to comply with Section 177(c) is fatal to their election. . Where a party carelessly nominates a candidate such is a nullity irrespective of whether he performs well. Sponsorship without membership is like putting nothing on something, it cannot stand. This is a clear example of acting with brazen impunity as if the Constitution is not binding,” he held.
However, Yusuf has vowed to reclaim his position as the duly elected Governor of Kano state at the Supreme Court.
2. Abdullahi Sule (APC)
Similarly, Abdullahi Sule of the All Progressive Congress (APC), was sacked in October as the state governor by the Nasarawa State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, while ordering INEC to revoke his Certificate of Return and give it to David Ombugadu of the PDP.
Quest Times gathered that Ombugadu had taken Sule to court to contest INEC’s announcement of Sule as the winner of the election.
He explained to the tribunal that his votes were unfairly lowered, while Sule’s votes were boosted to help him win, notably in the EC8Bs of Gayam and Chiroma Wards of Lafia Local Government Area.
However, the tribunal, led by Justice Ezekiel Ajayi, in its decision deducted the incorrect votes added to Sule and added back the votes which were reduced from the overall votes of David Ombugadu.
This decision was taken based on the certified copies of the polling units results (forms EC8A) which were presented by the petitioners in court.
3. Dauda Lawal (PDP)
Also, in Zamfara state, the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Wednesday, November 15th, had sacked Governor Dauda Lawal, while declaring the election inconclusive.
Recall, INEC had declared Dauda Lawal of the PDP as the winner of the Zamfara State governorship election, defeating the incumbent governor, Bello Matawalle of the APC.
Following this, Natawalle had filed a case with the tribunal contesting the results of the governorship election on March 18th, but it was dismissed due to lack of evidence.
However, the Court of Appeal issued its decision on Thursday, November 16th, declaring the election inconclusive and ordering INEC to hold new elections in two local governments.
According to the appellate court, Matawalle, who is currently the Minister of State for Defence, was able to establish Lawal’s invalid election.
The governor (Dauda Lawal) in a statement by his spokesperson, Sulaiman Idris, said his legal team was reviewing the judgment before taking the next necessary action.
4. Caleb Mutfwang (PDP)
Meanwhile, in Plateau State, Nentawe Goshwe of the APC challenged the victory of Caleb Mutfwang at the tribunal, on the ground that the governor was not validly nominated and sponsored by his party.
A three-member panel of the tribunal chaired by Justice R. Irele-Ifijeh, in a unanimous decision, dismissed the petition of Goshwe for lacking merit.
Although, the case was tabled before the court of appeal, which constituted a three-member panel led by Justice Elfrieda Williams-Dawodu who ruled on Sunday, November 19th, that the governor was not legitimately sponsored by the PDP for the election, citing Section 177 of the Constitution.
In addition, the judge pointed out that the PDP failed to adhere to a standing High Court order, which mandated the party to organise a legitimate party congress before endorsing candidates for the governorship and other positions.
This led Mutfwang to direct his legal team to submit an appeal with the Supreme Court, as he expressed hope that his mandate would be reinstated.