A Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday denied the All Progressives Congress (APC) the request to remove Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, the Governor of Sokoto State, from his position as governor.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that the request was made by the APC on the grounds of Tambuwal’s defection from the party to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which the party deemed unlawful.
The judgment was delivered by Justice Inyang Edem Ekwo in response to a suit filed by the APC. Justice Ekwo noted that the Court of Appeal had already nullified a similar request on the same issue in several judgments, and since the judgments had not been overruled by the Supreme Court, they remained legally binding.
The Judge also stated that it would be futile for the Federal High Court to rule on a matter that was pending before the Apex Court, adding that lawyers ought to have advised their clients on issues that were awaiting the Supreme Court’s decision.
The APC’s suit, which was marked FHC/ABJ/CS/449/2022, sought the court’s intervention in invoking sections 177, 179, and 189 of the 1999 Constitution to declare the governorship seat of Sokoto State vacant, following Tambuwal’s defection to another party. The party claimed to have won the Sokoto gubernatorial election in 2019, and demanded that Tambuwal should relinquish his mandate if he decides to switch to another party.
However, Justice Ekwo ruled that the case lacked merit in light of the Court of Appeal’s stance on similar matters and subsequently dismissed the suit.
