Following the December 9, 2016 order of the Supreme Court, a Federal High Court in Abuja has commenced hearing of the suit seeking to remove Aminu Waziri Tambuwal from office as Governor of Sokoto.
Senator Umaru Dahiru, who filed the suit, wants the court to make an order nullifying the return of Tambuwal as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2015 governorship election in Sokoto state.
Dahiru who was an aggrieved governorship aspirant in the December 4, 2014 APC governorship primary election, also applied to the court for an order directing the APC to declare him as the winner of the primary election and that he should be the person entitled to be sworn-in as the governor of Sokoto State.
The plaintiff hinged his case on the ground that the December 4, 2014 APC primary was conducted in gross violation of section 87 of the 2010 Electoral Act and the APC 2014 election guideline.
He also sought the court’s declaration that it is unlawful for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to act on a candidate nominated by the APC for the purpose of the general election when such a candidate was elected in violation of the electoral guideline established by the APC itself.
Dahiru also asked the court to declare that in the circumstances of the primary election, it is he and not Tambuwal that is entitled to be returned as the governorship candidate of the APC for the governorship election conducted on April 11, 2015.
When the matter came up yesterday, counsel to the plaintiff, Mr. Ikoro Ikoro, informed the trial Judge, Justice Gabriel Kolawole that he had filed a motion on January 31, 2017 to amend the reliefs being sought in the originating summons.
The counsel said that he wanted two reliefs to be deleted from the originating summons having been overtaken by events.
However, counsel for the APC, Mr. Jibrin Okutepa (SAN) and that of Tambuwal, Mr. Sunday Ameh (SAN), claimed that they have filed counter affidavits and served same on the plaintiff to object to his attempt to amend the originating summons.
Ikoro who confirmed receipt of the counter-affidavit prayed the court for a short adjournment to enable him respond to the counter affidavits of the defendants.
Justice Kolawole adjourned the matter till February 28, 2017 for the hearing of the plaintiff’s motion on notice filed on January 31, 2017.
Kolawole also gave the plaintiffs 48 hours within which to respond to the defendants’ counter affidavit.
It would be recalled that the apex court had last year remitted the case file back to the Federal High Court for a fresh trial on the ground that there is life in the case in spite of the conduct of the governorship election that produced Tambuwal.
The apex court had disagreed with Tambuwal in his claim that the case of the plaintiff challenging his nomination by APC has became an academic exercise and hypothetical on the ground election had been conducted and he had be inaugurated as the governor of Sokoto state.
The Supreme Court, in its decision in the matter also ordered the trial court to give the matter an accelerated hearing.