Anxiety as five governors know fate today

Background

The Nation

26 January 2012

Anxiety as five governors know fate today

A seven-member Supreme Court panel chaired by Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Dahiru Musdapher will today decide whether the tenure of five governors ought to have elapsed since May 29.

The judgment is in an appeal by the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) governorship candidate in Adamawa State, Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The governors are Ibrahim Idris (Kogi), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Timipre Sylva (Bayelsa), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto) and Liyel Imoke (Cross River). They are all members of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

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

The appellants are challenging the decision of the Court of Appeal, Abuja, which upheld the decision of an Abuja Federal High Court that extended the tenure of the five governors beyond May 29, 2011.

Two of the three legal experts-Amicus Curiae (friends of the court) – invited by the apex court have called for their removal. They are a renowned constitutional lawyer, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN) and Olukanyinsola Ajayi (SAN).

But a former Attorney- General of the Federation (AGF), Chief Richard Akinjide (SAN) advised the apex court to uphold the decision of the Court of Appeal.