Nyako loses seat - Speaker sworn in as acting gov

From Isaac Shobayo, Wale Akintunde - 27.02.2008

An Appeal Court sitting in Jos, Plateau State, on Tuesday ordered the governor of Adamawa State, Admiral Murtala Nyako, to vacate office with immediate effect and the Speaker of the House of Assembly to be sworn in immediately as the acting governor of the state.

Delivering judgment in the appeal filed by Nyako, the head of the five-man panel of judges, Justice I. A. Salami, said the two grounds of the appeal lacked merit, adding that the judgment of the tribunal stood.

Justice Salami directed that the Speaker of the state House of Assembly should stand in as the governor of the state until another election was conducted.

Folllowing the directive of the court, the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Honourable James Shaibu Barka, was on Tuesday evening sworn in as the acting governor of the state.

Honourable Bansi, the Chief Judge of the state, administered the oath of office at 6.05 p.m on the Speaker.

Many youths in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, took to the streets to celebrate the decision of the Court of Appeal nullifying the election of Governor Murtala Nyako.

The court, sitting in Jos nullified Nyako's election on the grounds that Alhaji Ibrahim Bapetel, the AC's candidate in the last April governorship election, had been unlawfully excluded.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that when the news filtered into Yola, about 570 km away, the youth went round the town, riding on vehicles and motorcycles and carrying AC's flags.

Detachments of the police in armoured personnel carriers were seen patrolling the major streets.

The PDP, ANPP and AC secretariats in Yola were deserted as the officials were said to have travelled to Jos for the verdict.

Bello Koma, AC's secretary for Yola South Local Government Area, described the ruling as a welcome development.

Koma, who spoke to NAN at the residence of Bapetel, said the verdict had shown that the judiciary had come to stay.

“The verdict has been expected because even a layman on the street knew from the scratch that Nyako has a bad case,” he said.