5th October, 2012
Ben Adaji/Jalingo
The impeached Deputy Governor of Taraba State, northeast Nigeria, Alhaji Sani Abubakar Danladi has vowed to pursue his case to the Supreme Court.
He was impeached Thursday for alleged gross misconduct by the State House of Assembly.
Danladi, who spoke through his lead counsel, Yunus Usgaz Usman, SAN, described the entire process adopted by the lawmakers before his impeachment as not only unfortunate but a mockery of the judiciary and democracy.
The counsel to Danladi added that it was uncivilized and an aberration of the rule of law for the lawmakers to have gone ahead with the impeachment in spite of a motion for a stay of action that was served on the Assembly by a Jalingo High Court.
Usman lamented the trivialization of impeachment, because democracy has been left in the hands of illiterates.
He opined that for democracy to thrive in Nigeria, the country needed to adopt the American system where the country’s chief justice serves as the chairman of the impeachment panel and other Supreme Court judges as members for the removal of president, vice-president, governors and deputy governors.
He cited the impeachment of former Governors Ladoja of Oyo State, Dariye of Plateau, and former Deputy Governor of Bauchi, Alhaji Garba Gadi as a disgrace to democracy and the entire Nigerian judicial system.
The former Taraba State Deputy Governor was served with impeachment notice on 13 September, 2012 over allegations of gross misconduct.
He was removed Thursday, less than a month after, when 22 of the 24 lawmakers voted in favour of his impeachment.
PDP dominates the Assembly with 20 members while ACN and CPC have two members each.