Wada sworn-in as  governor

Idris Wada
Governor of Kogi State.

Wada sworn-in as  governor

In line with the Supreme Court judgement on the tenure of five state governors, Captain Idris Wada has been sworn in as the governor of Kogi State.

He was sworn in by the State Chief Judge at the Government House, Lokoja.
Captain Wada won the governorship election held in the state in December 3rd 2011, under the platform of the PDP.

In Bayelsa, Adamawa, Sokoto and Cross River States, the Speakers have also been sworn in as acting Governor pending when a new governor is elected.

Federal government directive

Ahead of the swearing in, the Federal government had directed the House of Assembly speakers of the five states whose governors were sacked by the supreme court a couple of hours ago to step in and take charge of leadership of the affected states.
It has also directed the newly appointed Inspector General of police Mohammed Abubakar and heads of other security agencies to step in to maintain law and order in the five states.

The directive issued by Nigeria’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke said the federal government will comply with the court order.

The Adoke’s statement reads: “Today, the Supreme Court of Nigeria delivered judgment in the appeal emanating from the judgment of the Court of Appeal in respect of the tenure of the five governors namely Adamawa, Bayelsa, Cross River, Sokoto and Kogi states. The Court decided that the five governors had since completed their tenure and accordingly relieved them of their office.
The Federal Government acknowledges the judgment of the Supreme Court and in line with the provisions of Section 191(2) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, calls on the Honourable Speakers of the State Houses of Assembly of the affected states to take over the governance of their respective states pending the conduct of fresh governorship elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). It said.

The Inspector-General of Police and other law enforcement agencies have been directed to put in place, appropriate security measures to ensure orderly transition and to avoid any breach of the peace.
The Federal Government of Nigeria remains committed to the observance of the rule of law in all parts of the federation and therefore calls on the political leadership in the affected states to give full effect to the judgment of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.” The statement said.

Supreme Court’s ruling

The directive follows the Supreme Court’s sacking of five State Governors from office in a tenure elongation ruling delivered Friday morning in Abuja, the Nigerian capital.

Those sacked are the Bayelsa State Governor, Chief Timipre Sylva and his Sokoto State counterpart, Aliyu Wammako, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris (Kogi State), Admiral Murtala Nyako (Adamawa State), and Senator Liyel Imoke (Cross River State) are coincidentally all from the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

The Panel of Judges

The seven-panel of justices was headed by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Dahiru Musdapher.

Other members of the panel are Justices Mahmud Mukhtar, Walter Onnonghen, Chukwuma Ene, Ibrahim Coomasie, Olufunlola Adekeye and Mary Peter-Odili.

The justices approved the appeal filed by INEC that the tenure of the governors ended on May 29, 2011.

The court had put the five governors in suspense at the end of the hearing of the case in November 2011 when it reserved its judgment indefinitely.

But the court today ruled in favour of the Independent National Electoral Commission, which had sought to reverse the decision of the Court of Appeal upholding the ruling of a lower court giving fresh term to the five governors whose elections in April 2007 were invalidated.

The court further held that the intention of the lawmakers was that no governor should spend more than four years tenure in office except he was re-elected for another four years.

Justice Walter Samuel Onnoghen who read the lead judgment held that to allow the governors to spend more than four years would lead to absurdity.

Implication of ruling

The implication of the ruling is that the speakers in the affected states would take over as acting governors for three months within which INEC will be expected to conduct fresh elections in the states.

INEC had insisted that the four-year tenure of the governors commenced on May 29, 2007 when they were first administered oaths of office and allegiance, arguing that the fact that their respective elections were did not render the oaths they took null and void.

INEC therefore pleaded the Apex Court to set-aside the lower court judgments that extended the tenure of the governors on the premise that it erroneously construed the provision of section 1999 constitution.