The Supreme Court has rescheduled June 4 for judgement in the appeals over the reinstatement of the deposed Al-Mustapha Haruna-Jokolo as the 19th Emir of Gwandu.
A five-member panel of justices presided over by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji had on March 11 fixed June 6, the date after the parties argued their briefs in the court.
The appeals challenge the seven-year-old order of the Sokoto Division of the Court of Appeal, which reinstated Haruna-Jokolo as the 19th Emir of Gwandu.
Haruna-Jokolo was deposed in 2005, and he immediately challenged his dethronement at the State High Court. In 2014, the State High Court sitting in Birnin Kebbi ordered Haruna-Jokolo’s immediate reinstatement, having been satisfied that he was illegally deposed and that due process was not followed.
The Kebbi State Government and the present Emir of Gwandu, Alhaji Muhammadu Ilyasu-Bashar, filed an appeal challenging the decision of the State High Court. The Court of Appeal in Sokoto State also upheld the earlier judgement by the High Court in 2016.
Presently, four appeals and two cross-appeals are before the Supreme Court, which will deliver one judgement for all the appeals, including the cross-appeals.
According to a reliable source, the date had been rescheduled from June 6 to June 4, owing to the Federal Government’s declaration of June 6 and June 9 as public holidays for Muslims to celebrate the Eid-el-Kabir festival.
The prayers of the appellants before the Supreme Court are that the respondent case at the trial court was wrongly instituted at the Kebbi State High Court, hence the proceedings at the Court of Appeal were null, void, and of no effect whatsoever.
A cross-section of Birnin Kebbi residents, when interviewed on the imminent judgement, expressed disquiet and prayed that the judgement would be in the best interest of the people in the state and would sustain the relatively peaceful atmosphere enjoyed by the people in the state.
Barrister Sylvester Imhanobe appeared for the deposed Emir, while Yakubu Maikyau (SAN) appeared for the Kebbi State Governor, and Hussaini Zakariya (SAN) appeared for the incumbent Emir of Gwandu, Alhaji Muhammadu Ilyasu-Bashar. The judgment is expected to bring an end to the 20-year-old dispute over the Gwandu Emirate throne.
