The Court of Appeal in Sokoto has dismissed a suit seeking the removal of Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara State from office over his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The court, in its judgement delivered on Wednesday, affirmed the earlier verdict of the Federal High Court in Gusau, dismissing the case against the governor.
This was revealed on Wednesday in a judgement presided over by Justice A. A. Gumel.
This judgement dismissed an appeal case filed by some PDP members, Bashiru Saleh, Abdulhameed Haruna and Ibrahim Muhammad Turaki, seeking the removal of Governor Matawalle from office for defecting from the PDP to the APC.
In Appeal No. CA/S/61/2022, the court in a unanimous decision in the appeal argued by Matawalle’s counsel, Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, held that Governor Matawalle has the right to defect to any political party of his choice in exercise of his fundamental right to freedom of association as guaranteed by section 40 of the 1999 Constitution and as earlier decided by the Supreme Court in the case of ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE FEDERATION V. ABUBAKAR (2007) 10 NWLR (PART 1041) 1 at page 124; and subsequently followed by the Court of Appeal in OGBUOJI & ORS v. UMAHI & ORS (2022) LPELR-57166(CA).
Other Justices who concurred with the lead judgment are Justice Mukhtar, JCA, and Justice Dan-Juma, JCA.
At the trial court, the appellants, as plaintiffs, had approached the Federal High Court, Gusau, via an Originating Summons, which amongst others, sought a declaration that Governor Matawalle had defected on June 29, 2021, to the APC from the PDP which sponsored his election to the office of the Governor of Zamfara State, is deemed to have repudiated from his election to the said office and therefore had resigned from the office of the Governor of Zamfara State effective from the date of his defection.
But the court affirmed the earlier decision of the Federal High Court, Gusau, which had held that Matawalle cannot be removed from office simply because he defected from the PDP to the APC.
On the substantive issue of defection, the court held that a governor cannot lose his seat on the ground of defection from one party to another.
The court affirmed that a governor can defect from one party to another without losing his seat in tandem with the provisions of section 40 of the Constitution, and the binding decisions of the supreme court in A.G. FEDERATION V. ABUBAKAR (Supra); and the Court of Appeal in OGBUOJI V. UMAHI (Supra).
The court also held that the provisions of the Constitution are very clear to the effect that no punishment was provided for a governor who defects to another party; that Governor Matawalle cannot, therefore, vacate his seat; and no court of law can remove him just because of his decision to defect to another political party of his choice in exercise of his constitutional right of freedom of association.
The court added that once a governor is sworn in, he ceases to be under the control of the political party which sponsored him, and he can only be removed from office in line with the provisions of sections 180, 188 and 189 of the 1999 Constitution.
Newsflash Nigeria had reported that cases were filed challenging the defection of Governor Matawalle of Zamfara to the APC.
The state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Junaidu Aminu, disclosed this in Gusau after the sitting of the investigative panel on the impeachment of Deputy Governor Mahdi Aliyu-Gusau.
Four years after losing his Bakura/Maradun Constituency seat in 2015, Matawalle became the 2019 PDP governorship nominee and got to the office after a Supreme Court ruling disqualified the original winner.
In 2021, he defected from the PDP to the APC after a rally in Gusau alongside many elected officials in his government.
The court similarly dismissed the cross-appeal filed by Mr Gusau, the impeached deputy governor of Zamfara State, seeking to be declared the governor following Mr Matawalle’s defection to the APC.
The court held that Mr Ali cannot succeed Mr Matawalle on account of the governor’s defection from the PDP to APC.
Mr Matawalle at a grand ceremony in Gusau, the Zamfara State capital, defected to the ruling APC in June last year after months of speculation and denial.
But his deputy, Mr Ali, who refused to defect from the PDP, on whose platform the duo were elected, was later removed from office by the State House of Assembly.
Following Mr Matawalle’s defection, some aggrieved members of the PDP – Bashir Saleh, Abduhamid Haruna and Ibrahim Turaki – approached the Federal High Court in Gusau, praying the court to sack the governor.
However, the court declined jurisdiction and held that the Nigerian constitution does not provide for the removal of a governor on account of defecting from one political party to the other.
Subsequently, the plaintiffs filed an appeal to challenge the High Court’s decision.
The Court of Appeal dismissed their appeal on Wednesday.
