The political equation in Adamawa state took a fresh twist last Wednesday when a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja sacked the acting Governor, Umar Ahmnadu Fintiri and ordered that the former deputy governor of Adamawa State, Mr. Bala Ngilari, should be sworn in as the substantive governor of the state. The order came at the peak of electioneering campaign by political parties ahead of the by-election in the state which was only about four days. Almost everyone was jolted by the judgment as at was taken for granted in several quarters that James Ingilari’s case would end up as an exercise in futility.
The High Court not only ordered that Ngilari be sworn-in but also restrained the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, from going ahead with Saturday’s governorship bye election in Adamawa State, adding that the ousted deputy to Murtala Nyako be made to complete the deposed governor’s tenure.
The court judgement follows a suit instituted by Ngilari praying the court to declare him governor on the grounds that his resignation letter which he forwarded to the speaker of the state Assembly on the eve of the impeachment of Governor Nyako was null and void. His request is based on constitutional requirement that a deputy governor can only resign by submitting his letter of resignation to the governor.
Ngilari, a lawyer by profession, appeared to have played a very fast one on everyone either involved in the Adamawa political scramble or merely watching from the sideline. He was facing imminent impeachment with his former boss when he threw in the towel and purportedly resigned as Deputy Governor through a letter he sent to the Speaker of the Adamawa State House of Assembly.
Though Ngilari did not defect with former Governor Murtala Nyako to the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, it is still a puzzle why the Adamawa lawmakers wanted to flush him out with Nyako despite the fact that no specific impeachable offence was listed on the impeachment noticed served on him by the lawmakers. All the offences were tied to the actions and inactions of Murtala Nyako.
When Ngilari submitted the letter to Fintiri it appears the Speaker was in a hurry to take over as the acting Governor and never gave serious thought to the provisions in the constitution. Before Fintiri read the report of the probe panel that indicted Nyako and Ngilari, he announced to members of the House that he has received the resignation letter of the Deputy Governor.
The Adamawa lawmakers, in their ignorance of the provisions of the constitution, went ahead to debate the resignation letter and eventually accepted the resignation. Following the acceptance of the resignation letter, they struck off the name of Ngilari from the impeachment notice before they went ahead to impeach Murtala Nyako.
Right there on the floor of the House the Deputy Speaker moved a motion, seconded by Jerry Kundisi that since the Deputy Governor has resigned, the Speaker should be sworn in as acting Governor.
The House in session unanimously directed the President of Adamawa Customary Court, in the absence of the Chief Judge to swear in the Speaker as acting Governor for three months before an election is conducted to fill in the vacant office of the Governor of Adamawa State.
After the Adamawa Speaker was hurriedly sworn in as acting Governor, Murtala Nyako first alerted him that his days as acting Governor were numbered as his Deputy had not resigned in the eyes of the law and should have been sworn in as the acting Governor since he was not impeached by the State house of Assembly.
Nyako disagreed with the claim by the House of Assembly that Ngilari had resigned his position as deputy governor, arguing that the law required the deputy governor to submit his resignation letter to the governor and not the House of Assembly.
Nyako argued that he was still the governor of Adamawa State at the time Ngilari was said to have submitted his resignation letter to the Speaker of the state House of Assembly in contravention of Section 306 (5) of the 1999 Constitution.
Nyako, who spoke through his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Mr. Ahmed Sajoh, said, “Our attention has been drawn to the purported resignation of the Deputy Governor of Adamawa State, Barr Bala James Ngilari, which was supposedly read on the floor of the State House of Assembly.
“We wish to State categorically that Section 306 (5) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as Amended requires that the Deputy Governor resigns not to the House of Assembly but to the Governor.
“As at the time the supposed resignation was said to have been tendered in the House, Murtala H Nyako was the Governor of Adamawa State. No such letter was written to him, he received none and he approved none.
“It should, therefore, be known that in the eyes of the Law, the Deputy Governor has not resigned. Barrister Bala James Ngilari is still the Deputy Governor of Adamawa State.
“This clarification is necessary to avert another subversion of the Constitution since the other processes relating to the impeachment saga have all been in contravention of the Constitution and the Law. We wish to observe that continued abuse of the constitution and the laws of the land may spell doom for our democracy,” Nyako’s spokesman said.
Haven secured a soft landing, Ngilari, whose office was declared vacant on July 15 by the state’s lawmakers after he purportedly resigned, put in motion the next stage of the well-plotted script for his comeback, challenged the legality of his resignation, and went to court to reclaim his mandate.
The suit had Umaru Fintiri, the Speaker, Adamawa State House of Assembly, the House of Assembly, the Acting Governor, Adamawa State, Mr. Nyako and INEC as defendants.
Mr. Ngilari, denied resigning his position within the contemplation of the provision of Section 306(1), (2) & (5) of the Constitution, said the purported resignation letter he sent to the Speaker was not meant to be acted on by the House of Assembly.
In a supporting affidavit, Ngilari said, “I did not submit any letter of resignation to the fifth defendant (governor) or any other person other than the first defendant (the Speaker).
“I only submitted a purported letter of resignation (exhibit A), to the first defendant but I never intended to comply with the strict provisions of sections 306 (1), (2) & (5) of the 1999 Constitution by submitting it to the fifth defendant (the Governor).
“I never intended exhibit A (the letter) to be any subject of debate or resolution by the second defendant (House of Assembly), but a private correspondence between myself and the first defendant, hence it was marked ‘secret’.
“That exhibit A was only submitted to the first defendant with the intention of discussing the contents with him privately at a more convenient time to alert him at a possible action I may take at a later date because of certain political developments in Adamawa State. Hence, I did not submit it to the fifth defendant (as Governor of Adamawa State) as strictly stipulated by section 306(1), (2) & (5) of the 1999 Constitution.
“That I was therefore shocked to see that my letter was read and acted upon by the entire members of the second defendant when it was never addressed to them,” Ngilari stated.
Mr. Ngilari then raised seven questions for the court’s determination, and asked the court to restrain INEC and its agents from conducting a bye-election to fill the office of the Governor following the impeachment of the governor and the purported resignation of his deputy.
He further sought an order “removing the third defendant (Umaru) as the acting Governor of Adamawa State forthwith”, and “an order directing the Chief Judge of Adamawa State (or Acting Chief Judge, as the case may be) or the President of the Customary Court of Appeal to swear” him (the plaintiff) in as the state’s substantive governor.
He also sought among other declarations that by the combined provisions of section 306 (1), (2) and (5) of the 1999 Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) the plaintiff (Barr. Bala James Ngilari), as Deputy Governor of Adamawa State, did not resign his office by addressing a letter of resignation dated July 15, 2014 to the first defendant (Speaker, Adamawa State House of Assembly).
“A declaration that by the sequence of the legislative business of the 2nd defendant as contained in the transcript of the votes and proceedings of the Adamawa State House of Assembly (second defendant) of Tuesday, July 15, 2014, the fifth defendant (Murtala Nyako) was still the Governor of Adamawa State at the time the first andsecond defendants received, accepted and acted upon the purported letter of resignation of the plaintiff (Barr. Bala James Ngilari) to declare his seat vacant.
“A declaration that by the combined provisions of section 306 (1), (2) and (5) of the 1999 Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) the Plaintiff (Barr. Bala James Ngilari) did not resign from office as Deputy Governor of Adamawa State as strictly stipulated by the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).”
While the case was dragging in court all eyes were fixed on the proposed October 11 governorship by election and little attention were paid to the merit or demerit of Ngilari’s case. Indeed, some of the lawyers cum politicians that were asked questions about the Ngilari case were of the opinion that the case will not succeed as the judge will look at the intention behind the resignation letter and not the procedure used by Ngilari in tendering his resignation. This was also the position of former Political Adviser to the President and one of the aspirants that vied for the governorship ticket of the PDP, Alhaji Ahmed Gulak.
Responding to a question few days to the PDP primary Gulak said, “On the resignation of Ngilari the law is very clear. It is the intention of whatever act you do that matters most and not the technicalities. Ngilari is a lawyer of high repute, he is about 35 years post-call to bar, and he ought to know what steps to take in order to effect his resignation.
“If he knew, and which I assume he ought to have known as a lawyer, that his resignation was to be sent to the governor and not to the House of Assembly, yet he forwarded his resignation to the House of Assembly and not to the governor, then there is an element of fraud. He cannot benefit from his illegal act. The intention and the spirit is what the law looks at.
“Secondly, having resigned he is entitled to go to court whether he gets what he gets from the court or not is for judicial interpretation. Nobody has any right to pronounce whether that resignation was right or wrong until the court decides since the matter has been subjected to the court’s interpretation. But be that as it may the law is very clear, that it is the intention that the law looks at.
“What was his intention of writing that resignation letter- the intention by a mind that is not intoxicated, by a mind that was clear was to drop out and to resign from being deputy governor of Adamawa state? The law will look at it from the facts and from the intention and the law will always sideline technicalities. But like I said, if he knew his resignation was inappropriate the law will say that you cannot benefit from your illegal act.”
From the latest development it is clear that the bench is not on the same page with Gulak and other that waved off Ngilari’s case. But political observers are of the view that Ngilari used his knowledge of the law to outsmart everyone by creating a lacuna when he tendered his resignation letter to the House of Assembly which was not envisaged by the constitution.
All previous resignations by Deputy Governors has gone to the Governor but unfortunately the Adamawa Speaker was consumed by his ambition to become governor and accepted the letter since he felt that will automatically make him the acting Governor since the sitting governor was on the verge of being impeached.
While the debate and discussions on the landmark judgment continues across the country, one thing is certain, James Ngilari has enriched our jurisprudence and thought a lesson to the political class and lawmakers in the country not to take any provision of the constitution for granted.
If Ahmadu Fintiri had been more thorough and less hasty in accepting Ngilari’s resignation letter perhaps his ambition of becoming Adamawa state substantive governor would have become a reality today since he was almost coasting home to victory in the by-election that was never to be.