The Court of Appeal on Friday in Abuja affirmed the removal of the former Deputy Governor of Taraba, Sani Danladi.<\/p>\n
Danladi was removed from office Oct. 5, 2012 after the state House of Assembly impeached him based on report of a judicial commission of inquiry.<\/p>\n
Delivering judgment, Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, who led four other justices, held that the 19 out of the 24 lawmakers, constituted more than the minimum two-third majority, as stipulated by the constitution.<\/p>\n
“The impeachment was in line with the mandatory provisions of Section 188 of the 1999 Constitution as amended.<\/p>\n
“The appellant should have known that the constitution does not stipulate hundred percent attendance of all the members before such exercise must be carried out.<\/p>\n
“The court, therefore, upholds the reasoning of the lower court, maintaining that a public officer should not be identified with any action that constitutes gross misconduct.<\/p>\n
“ The allegations of abuse of office, conversion of public utility and funds to private use and non performance of his statutory functions and duties constitute abuse of office.<\/p>\n
“It is also erroneous to hold that the acting chief judge of Taraba who constituted the commission of inquiry which report led to Danladi’s impeachment was not qualified to do.<\/p>\n
“The appellant defence was out of place when he argued that his fresh oath of office obliterates allegations of his misconduct in the previous tenure.<\/p>\n
“The High Court of Taraba was apt in its decision to affirm the action by the state House of Assembly and are obliged to further affirm it,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
The appellant had challenged and lost his impeachment before a Taraba High Court.<\/p>\n
Dissatisfied with the decision of the lower court, he approached the court.<\/p>\n
In his defence, Danladi argued that the law required the presence of all members of the House of Assembly for any impeachment processes to commence.<\/p>\n
He further submitted that the decision of the House of Assembly called for a review, as it was not fully constituted when his impeachment was carried out.<\/p>\n
He submitted that the report of the judicial commission of inquiry which purportedly indicted him was “baseless and incompetent.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
According to him, the acting chief judge of the state lacks the constitutional backing to delve into establishing the judicial commission of inquiry to probe him.<\/p>\n
The former deputy governor was accused of diverting Federal Government\/World Bank\u2019s Millennium Development Goals, (MDGs) Projects funds for his private use, among others.<\/p>\n
Speaking to newsmen after the judgment, Mr Yoonus Usman, Counsel to the appellant, said the decision of the court would be tested at the Supreme Court. (NAN)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Court of Appeal on Friday in Abuja affirmed the removal of the former Deputy Governor of Taraba, Sani Danladi. Danladi was removed from office Oct. 5, 2012 after the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":440,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n