The sack of the Acting Governor of Taraba State, Garba Umar, on Friday by the Supreme Court has completely altered political permutations in the state. Umar was removed following the reinstatement of Alhaji Sani Abubakar Danladi, a former deputy governor, who was impeached before Umar took over.
Taraba State House of Assembly had on September 4, 2012 impeached Danladi from office on grounds of gross misconduct. The impeachment was sequel to the adoption of the recommendation of a seven-member Judicial Commission of Inquiry set up by the then acting Chief Judge, Justice Josephine Tuktur to investigate allegations of gross misconduct against the deputy governor.
The Commission had submitted its findings to the Assembly, saying the deputy governor was found guilty of the three allegations levelled against him. The report said Danladi had used his office to divert Millennium Development Goals, MDG, projects to Yagai Academy, a private school, which belongs to him.
The report also stated that the erstwhile deputy governor was guilty of using his office to influence the posting of an officer and interfering in the affairs of his Karim-Lamido Local Government Area to the extent that the communities were complaining of the negative attitude of the said officer.
Danladi had challenged his impeachment on several grounds. Among other things, Danladi had through his counsel filed a suit at the Taraba State High Court in Jalingo challenging the competence of the then acting Chief Judge of the state, Josephine Tukur who constituted the panel that investigated him insisting that she had overstayed in office for three months.
Not satisfied with the verdict of the Jalingo High Court, which in March last year affirmed his impeachment by the State House of Assembly, Danladi proceeded to the Federal Court of Appeal in Yola to challenge the verdict. But in a unanimous judgment on July 19, 2013, the five member justices of the appellate court led by Justice Musa Abba Aji dismissed the appeal by the impeached deputy governor on grounds that it was lacking in merit. The court then upheld the judgment of the Taraba State High Court, which had ruled that the Taraba State House of Assembly complied with Section 188 of the 1999 Constitution as amended in his impeachment process. Convinced that the Appellate Court erred, Danladi then took his legal battle to the Supreme Court, which on Friday reinstated him as the Acting Governor of Taraba on the ground that Danladi was denied fair hearing.
The Supreme Court also said it was illegal for 19 members of the state House of Assembly, who prepared the impeachment notice to have sat at a Guest House belonging to the majority leader.
Justice Ngwuta described the impeachment panel as a “kangaroo panel” and said that there was a conspiracy between the impeachment panel and the lawmakers.
The political equation in Taraba state took unexpected twist less than a month after Danladi was removed, and replaced with Garba Umar, Governor Suntai got involved in an air crash on October 25, 2012 and Umar took over as Acting Governor following the inability of Suntai to return to office. The ascendency of Umar did not go down well with core loyalists of Suntai, who see him as an interloper and have engaged Umar in bitter power struggle.
Supporters of Suntai predicted rightly that once Umar taste power as Acting Governor he will be reluctant to relinquish power and allow earlier deals on power rotation in the state to continue unimpeded. Prior to the plane crash involving Governor Suntai he had agreed to hand over power to Taraba South Senatorial district at the end of his eight year tenure. Suntai, who is from Taraba Central Senatorial district, took over from Jolly Nyame who is from Taraba North. Bitter opponents of Umar led by former minister of defence, General Theophilus Danjuma, are mainly from Taraba South. Their angst against Umar, who is from Taraba North, is that his ambition to contest the 2015 governorship will deny Taraba South opportunity of producing the next governor of the state.
Umar confirmed the worst fears of the people of Taraba South when he obtained his nomination form to contest the PDP governorship ticket. Although the southern zone is divided over the choice of who becomes their ticket bearer for the 2015 governorship election, the pro-Suntai elements are said to have seen Umar as a ‘common enemy’ to their agitation for power shift, hence the need to edge him out.
Already there are two candidates that have been separately ‘endorsed’ from the zone to vie for the PDP ticket. While David Sabo Kente, a former staff of the National Assembly was endorsed by elders from the zone, former Minister of State for Niger Delta Affairs, Darius Ishaku was recently endorsed in Abuja by elder statesman, General T.Y. Danjuma.
The Supreme Court decision reinstating Danladi came as a much needed relief for the people of Taraba south as the sack of Umar has stripped him of his position as the leader of the PDP in Taraba State. Before his sack Umar is in control of the PDP structure in the state and he would have used the power of incumbency to clinch the PDP ticket in the state. The apex court ruling has also put paid to plots by some pro-Suntai members of PDP, who were already contemplating defecting to either the All Progressives Congress or the Peoples Democratic Movement in an event Umar picks the PDP ticket.
Now that Umar has been sacked the battle for the PDP ticket is now between David Sabo Kente and Darius Ishaku. Umar, who only came into active politics in 2012 after he became deputy governor, is not known to have any political structure and because of the running battle he has been having with loyalists of Suntai since 2012, he has been able to settle down to set up solid structure in all the zones in the state. Political observers are of the view that even the token support Umar enjoyed as Acting Governor will likely evaporate now that he has been kicked out of office.
The people of Taraba South are even speculated to have goaded Danladi to pursue his court case to a logical conclusion to ensure Umar is removed from office before the conduct of the governorship primaries. The deal was that while they will support his quest to get reinstated he will not contest the 2015 governorship election. Coincidentally, the sale and submission of PDP governorship nomination form has close thereby foreclosing any possibility of Danladi reneging on the deal not to contest the governorship election. Political pundits are already speculating that now that the Supreme Court has pulled the rug from the feet of Umar he may throw in the towel and withdraw from the race for PDP ticket before the primaries since it is now apparent he is no longer the aspirant to beat.