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From John Adams, Minna
There was drama at Government House, Minna, Niger State, yesterday, as the state High Court sacked newly elected chairman of Chanchaga Local Government Area, Mustapha Jibrin Alheri, less than an hour to his inauguration.
Alheri had lined up alongside 24 other newly elected council chairmen waiting to be sworn-in when the Court presided over by Justice Mohammed Mohammad announced his sack. The judge had delivered the judgement on a pre-election suit instituted by Aminu Ladan against Alheri over illegal substitution of his name after the party primary which produced him.
Governor Abubakar Sani Bello, however, went ahead to swear in the chairman and allowed him take the oath of office and allegiance, despite the court judgment sacking him.
It was gathered that some stakeholders in the local government had met and unanimously picked Alheri ahead of Ladan who had won the primary to compensate him for stepping down from contesting the House of Representatives for Chanchaga constituency for the 2023 general election.
Ladan had approached the court and alleged unlawful substitution of his name after the October primary of the APC in the LGA.
Justice Muhammed after reviewing claims of Ladan and that of the defendant, Jibrin, the APC and State Independent Electoral Commission, ruled that Alheri did not participate in the primary and his name was unlawfully submitted and sent to the State Independent Electoral Commission by the APC.
The judge ordered the state electoral umpire to present a certificate of return to Ladan and withdraw that of Alheri.
Similarly, the judge ordered the State Executive Council to swear in Ladan as chairman of Chanchaga LGA.
No government official was ready to comment on the development as at the time of filing this report.
Ladan, however, thanked the judiciary for the landmark judgment, and urged the governor to immediately swear him in accordance with the court judgment.
