The Supreme Court has declared as illegal, the impeachment of former Taraba State Governor, Alhaji Sani Abubakar Danladi and has ordered the acting governor of the state, Alhaji Garba Umar, to vacate office immediately.
Danladi was impeached by the state House of Assembly in September 2012 purportedly on the orders of Governor Danbaba Suntai for gross misconduct and engaging in private businesses.
The ex-deputy governor approached the Federal High Court, Taraba, which ruled that he was duly and constitutionally impeached. Not satisfied, he took his case to the Appeal Court, which also upheld the decision of the lower court and dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit.
But in a unanimous judgment on Friday, the Supreme Court held that the impeachment panel set up by the House of Assembly to investigate the allegations against Danladi violated his rights to fair hearing.
The impeachment panel was said to have gone ahead with its proceedings without hearing Danladi and recommended his impeachment, while the panel snubbed his court papers which he served on it to challenge its composition.
Delivering the lead judgment on the matter, Justice Sylvester Ngwutawho held that there seemed to be conspiracy between both the Taraba State High Court and the “kangaroo” impeachment panel to frustrate the appellant.
He held that setting aside the judgments of both the Court of Appeal and the Taraba State High Court, which had dismissed Danaladi’s suit, they ought to have resolved the issue of fair hearing in favour of Danladi.
