Court dismisses suit seeking to sack Bagudu as Kebbi governor

The Court of Appeal in Abuja, on Monday, dismissed a legal action seeking the removal of governor Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi state from office on the allegation that he was not qualified to hold the governorship position.

Justice Olabisi Ige, who read the lead judgment of a three-man panel of Justice of the Court of Appeal, dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit and for being frivolous.

The appellate court in the unanimous judgment upheld the decision of Justice Ahmed Ramat  Mohammed of the Federal High Court, Abuja which had earlier dismissed the suit against governor Atiku Bagudu on the same reasons.

In the judgment that lasted about two hours, the Appeal Court Justice held that the case of the appellant was incurably bad to the effect that there was no point going into the merit of the substantive issues raised in the Appeal.

The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Major-General Bello Sarkin-Yaki had filed the appeal, where he prayed the appellate court to set aside the judgment of the high court on the ground that the trial Judge erred in his judgment.

But Justice Ige disagreed with the appellant and held that the high court judge was right in his findings and judgment in the issues raised by the appellant against governor Bagudu.

Justice Mohammed had, in his judgment earlier in the year, dismissed the suit, as filed by General Sarkin-Yaki for lacking in merit.

The trial judge held that the plaintiff did not prove beyond reasonable doubt that the governor was not qualified to run for office and that he lied under oath.

Bagudu was elected governor on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2015 general elections which saw the APC takeover power at the centre.

General Sarkin-Yaki had asked the court to hold that Governor Bagudu was not qualified to contest the election because he did not possess the requisite academic qualification to contest.

He had also claimed that the governor made a false declaration on the form he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Governor Bagudu had in 2008 won the senatorial by-election for Kebbi Central after Senator Adamu Aliero was appointed Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.

He later ran successfully for re-election on the platform of PDP in the 2011 general elections.