It is all over for Alhaji Garba Umar, whether as acting governor or deputy governor of Taraba State.
The Supreme Court terminated his tenure yesterday after declaring that the process leading to the impeachment of his predecessor, Sani Abubakar Danladi, was unconstitutional.
The court, in a unanimous judgment, voided Danladi’s impeachment and ordered that he be reinstated.
Umar had been acting as governor since the October 25,2012 plane crash that took Governor Danbaba Suntai out of circulation.
Justice Sylvester Ngwuta, who read the lead judgment of the apex court seven-man panel, upheld Danladi’s appeal that he was not accorded fair hearing by the panel that investigated the allegation 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 grounds 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 which in its ruling on 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.
Other Justices in the seven-man panel that heard Danladi’s appeal at the Supreme Court – Justices Samuel Onnoghen, Bode Rhodes-Vivour, Kumayi Aka’ahs, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun and John Okoro – agreed with Justice Ngwuta.
Justice Ngwuta held that “in effect, at all material times, the appellant remained and still remains the deputy governor of Taraba State and he is to resume his interrupted duties of his office forthwith.”
He noted that from the composition of the impeachment panel, Danladi was denied fair hearing. He found as illegal the sitting of the 19 members of the state House of Assembly at a guest house belonging to the majority leader to prepare the impeachment notice.
Justice Ngwuta held that the panel ought to sit and conduct its business in the chambers of the House. He also held that the Taraba House of Assembly members acted in violation of section 188 of the constitution.
Justice Ngwuta described the impeachment panel as kangaroo panel which merely acted out a written script handed to it. He noted that there was a conspiracy between the impeachment panel and the lawmakers.
He held that Danladi was denied the opportunity to prepare his defence or present his case before the panel.
“My noble Lords, the impact of what happened in the panel on the country’s impeachment jurisprudence is too alarming to contemplate.
“Here is a panel that had three months to investigate the serious allegations of gross misconduct against the appellant, a deputy governor of the state.
“For no apparent reasons for the indecent haste, the panel completed its sitting and prepared and submitted its report to the Taraba State House of Assembly between September 28, 2012 and 3rd October 2012, a period of six days inclusive of the first and last dates.
“From the undisputed facts of this case, one has the inevitable, but disturbing impression that the panel composed of the respondents was a mere sham and that the removal of the appellant from office was a done deal as it were.
“In my view, the respondents, in their purported investigation of the allegation made against the appellant merely played out a script previously prepared and handed over to the panel.
“The most disturbing aspect of the kangaroo panel is that it was headed by a man described in the processes before this court as a barrister- one Barrister Nasiru Audu Dangiri. The third member of the panel was also described as a banister- one Barrister R.J. Ikitausai.
“If these two men are actually members of the noble profession to which your lordships and my humble self, by the grace of God, have the honour to belong and not people who, for self-aggrandisement adopted the nomenclature ‘barrister,’ the harm they have deliberately perpetrated in this matter is so serious that the attention of the Disciplinary Committee of the Bar ought to be drawn to it.
“Impeachment of elected politicians is a very serious matter and should not be conducted as a matter of course. The purpose is to step aside the will of the electorate as expressed at the polls. It has implications for the impeached as well as the electorate who bestowed the mandate on him.
“Whether it takes one day or the three months prescribed by law, the rules of due process must be strictly followed. If the matter is left at the whims and caprices of politicians and their panels, a state or even the entire country could be reduced to a status of banana republic.
“In conclusion, based on the undisputed facts in the affidavit of the appellant, I’m of the view that the court below ought to have resolved the issue of fair hearing against the respondent and in favour of the appellant.
“The court below ought to have declared the entire proceedings of the impeachment panel as null and void and of no legal effect.
“I allow the appeal and vacate the judgment of the Court of Appeal. I hereby set aside the entire proceedings of the panel that purported, at the instance of the state House of Assembly, to investigate the allegations of misconduct against the appellant, the Deputy Governor of Taraba State.
“I declare the entire proceedings null and void. In effect, Alhaji (Sanni) Abubakar Danladi remains and still remains the Deputy Governor of Taraba State and he is to resume his interrupted duties forthwith.”
