Gwandu Emirate tussle: Supreme Court to hear motions Feb 5

The Supreme Court has adjourned till February 5, 2019 hearing on the motions challenging the reinstatement of AlMustapha Jokolo as Emir of Gwandu.

A five-member panel of justices presided by Justice Tanko Muhammed yesterday adjourned the suit to enable the consolidation of the various motions before the court.

Counsel to the incumbent Emir of Gwandu, Alhaji Muhammadu Iliyasu Bashar, Ustaz Usman (SAN) had asked the court to adjourn the matter because the motion for consolidation of the two suits by the incumbent emir and the Kebbi State Government brought by Salisu Maikyau (SAN) was not ready.

Usman also informed the court that his motion for injunction challenging the enforcement of the judgment of the Court of Appeal in Sokoto dated May 3, 2016 and the application for consolidation dated December 13, 2016 should be adjourned pending the consolidation of the two earlier suits.

Though the counsel to the Kebbi State Government, Maikyau did not oppose the application, Jokolo’s counsel, Samson Audu objected to the adjournment on the grounds that the matter has been adjourned on nine previous occasions, which he claimed was to deny his client the benefit of the earlier judgments of the High Court in 2005 and the Court of Appeal in Sokoto on April 14, 2016.

The appellate court had in the judgment also ordered that Jokolo’s salaries and entitlements for the 10 years he was out of office be paid to him as ordered by the high court.

But the present Emir of Gwandu, Muhammad Bashar, a cousin of his, however, approached the Supreme Court challenging the judgment of both courts.