Following his impeachment by the state's House of Assembly on February 23, 2022, a Federal High Court on Wednesday reinstated Mahdi Gusau as the deputy governor of Zamfara despite an ongoing court injunction.
According to Bendelnews, Justice Inyang Ekwo reversed the impeachment in a ruling.
As long as the lawsuit was pending, the judge rejected all of the House of Assembly's, former Governor Bello Matawalle's, and state's chief judge's attempts to purportedly impeach Gusau.
He declared that the speaker of the previous legislature, the former governor, the chief judge, and other individuals' actions were an anomaly and must not be tolerated.
Justice Ekwo referred to it as "null and void and of no effect whatsoever," adding, "I agree with the learned silk for the plaintiff/applicant that the court must protect its dignity by reprimanding the 5th, 6th, and 7th defendants (Speaker, Governor, and Chief Judge), and undoing the steps, acts, or proceedings taken in the impeachment while this suit was pending."
Contrary to the claim of the attorneys for the fifth through eighth defendants, the judge declared that he did not perceive any of the judicial authorities referenced and relied upon by the attorney authorising any litigant to conduct extra-judicial action while a matter was still being heard in court.
"Parties have the right to use self-help once their issue has been submitted to the court for resolution end.
To wait the outcome of the action and the proper order of court before going further, he added, "It is not permissible for one of the parties to take any step of complete helplessness, or which may give the impression that the court is being used as a mere subterfuge."
Recall that on June 29, 2021, Governor Matawalle, three state senators, members of the House of Representatives, and members of the House of Assembly all defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
In a lawsuit with the case number FHC/ABJ/CS/650/2021, the PDP and Gusau, the then-deputy governor who did not leave the party with them, requested that the court declare their positions empty as a result of their defection which they got into the positions of power.
For the goal of holding and occupying the office of governor, state and federal lawmakers, they requested a mandatory injunction ordering INEC to accept the list of PDP candidates.
For the purpose of holding and occupying the said offices allegedly held by members of the APC, they also asked for an order from INEC to issue certificates of return to each of the aforementioned candidates, "in defiance of the decision of the Supreme Court in SC. 377/2019: APC v. Senator Kabiru Garba Marafa and Others for the unspent electoral term of office of May 29, 2019 to May 28, 2013."
They also requested, among other things, an injunction requiring the defendants to swear in Gusau as governor under the PDP's platform.
On July 19, 2021, the FHC intervened to prevent the House of Assembly from carrying out its intended impeachment of Gusau as deputy governor.