The Supreme Court of Nigeria has added a two-year adjournment, further shifting to November 2023, hearing in three appeals challenging the five-year-old order of the Court of Appeal, Sokoto Division reinstating
HRH Alhaji Mustapha Haruna Jokolo, as the 19th Emir of Gwandu.
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At a resumed sitting on the protracted Gwandu Emirate headship tussle which commenced in 2005, the apex court Justices led by Olukayode Ariwoola, in what was described as unusual in legal circles, adjourned a scheduled hearing in deference to a fresh appeal filed by one of the appellants at a court below.
Justices on the panel were Olukayode Ariwoola, Amina Augie, John Inyang Okoro, Abdu Aboki and Emmanuel Agim.
The November 29, sitting was for the court to hear a motion for substitution of the names of deceased kingmakers in the three appeals marked SC2/2013 (Attorney-General of Kebbi State and others against Alhaji Mustapha Haruna Jokolo); SC314/2016(Alhaji Muhammadu Iliyasu Bashar against Alhaji Mustapha Haruna Jokolo & anor); and SC266/2017(Governor of Kebbi State and others against Alhaji Mustapha Haruna Jokolo. The briefs for the appeals were filed in 2019 and consolidated.
Justice Ariwoola enquired to know which of the three appeals the panel was to hear, so that judgment on it would be binding on the two other appeals.
But Yakubu Maikyau SAN, counsel for the Governor of Kebbi State, informed the panel that he has an appeal challenging jurisdiction at the Court of Appeal Sokoto Division.
At this stage, the apex court decided to stay it’s proceeding in view of the appeal at the court below.
HRH Jokolo was deposed in 2005 and he promptly went to court to challenge his dethronement.
In 2014, a Kebbi State High Court 6, sitting in Birnin Kebbi, ordered his immediate reinstatement, having been satisfied he was illegally deposed.
In his ruling, the presiding judge, Justice Abbas Ahman said the deposition was contrary to law and that due process was not followed.
Not satisfied with the judgment, Kebbi State Government and Jokolo’s successor, filed an appeal challenging the decision of the Kebbi State High Court.
In a unanimous judgement passed in April 2016, the three judges of the appellate court led by Justice Tunde Awotoye held that the 2005 deposition of the Emir by the then Governor of the state, Senator Adamu Aliero contravened sections 6 and 7 of the Chief Appointment and Deposition Law of the State because the Governor neither made an inquiry into the allegation against the Emir nor consulted the Kebbi State’s Council of Chiefs before arriving at his decision.
The Kebbi State Government and Jokolo’s successor approached the Supreme Court for a final decision.
Specifically, the appeals before the Supreme Court are aimed at reviewing the verdicts of the two lower courts to affirm or deny that Kebbi State Government contravened section 6 and 7 of the Chief Appointment and Deposition Law of the state because the government neither made an inquiry into the allegation against the Emir nor consulted the state’s council of chiefs before arriving at his decision.
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