The former acting Governor of Adamawa State, Ahmadu Umaru, more popularly known as Fintiri, is pressing on with his appeal to set aside the judgment of the Federal High Court which removed him from office and ordered the swearing-in of James Ngilari as governor.
However, Governor Bala James Ngilari has denied commending the state legislators for impeaching his former boss, Murtala Nyako.
Ngilari, who said he did not know where the story emanated from, added that at no time did he commend the state legislators for removing his former boss from office when he met with the party’s stakeholders and supporters in Yola last Thursday.
In a notice of appeal filed by Chief Duro Adeyele (SAN) of Bayo Ojo and Co. Chambers, the former acting governor raised eight grounds of appeal upon which he asked the Appeal Court to rely on and set aside the judgment of Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court.
In the alternative, he is asking the court to remit the case back to the Federal High Court Abuja for trial by way of writ of summons and by another judge.
The case was heard on originating summons. Originating summons is used when the issues in question are not contentious as against writ of summons which is resorted to when the issues are contentious.
Umaru argued that the judge was wrong when he refused to convert the suit from originating summons to writ of summons because the conflict was not such that could be resolved by examining documents.
He said: “There was a conflict between the parties as to whether the 5th defendant (Murtala Nyako) wrote Exhibit AU2; the letter of the then governor of Adamawa State to the Speaker nominating Hon. Adamu Kamalle as the Deputy Governor, the plaintiff having resigned his position.”
He also faulted the judge’s decision that the case could only be heard and determined on the basis of the votes of proceedings of the Adamawa State House of Assembly.
According to him, the Speaker of the state House of Assembly and the house have no role to play in the resignation of the plaintiff.
He also insisted that the former governor, Nyako wrote a letter to the speaker of the house wherein he informed the speaker that Ngilari had resigned his appointment.
“There is no requirement under Section 306 of the Constitution for Nyako to inform the speaker in the letter of nomination of a deputy governor that he had received the resignation letter of the plaintiff,” he added.
He also accused the judge of admitting uncertified documents contrary to the Evidence Act, which specified the conditions for the admissibility of public documents.
Although Umaru had immediately after the judgment was delivered filed a motion for stay of execution of the judgment, that application had been overtaken by event: the swearing of Ngilari as governor.
In the application, he also sought an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the implementation of the declaratory order of the court. This has also been overtaken by event.
Apart from declaring Ngilari the governor of the state, Justice Ademola, also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to stop the by-election scheduled for last Saturday.
The judge held that Ngilari’s purported resignation as the deputy governor of the state on July 15, was of no effect since he did not send the letter of resignation to Nyako, who was still the governor at the time, but to the House of Assembly.
Source: Thisday
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