Sokoto: Court Voids Sack of 15 district heads
A Sokoto State High Court has restrained Governor Aliyu Ahmed from sacking 15 district heads, particularly those of Tambuwal and Kebbe.
The court ordered the governor and all those joined in the suit to return to the status quo, as it voided the removal of the district heads by the Sokoto State governor.
Alhaji Buhari Dahiru Tambuwal and Alhaji Abubakar Kassim, the district heads of Tambuwal and Kebbe respectively, approached the court to contest their removal by the governor.
They were among the 15 traditional rulers removed by the state government on allegation of insubordination and aiding insecurity.
The presiding judge, Justice Kabiru Ibrahim Ahmed, ordered the governor, the Attorney General of the state and Sokoto Sultanate Council to revert to status quo pending the determination of the suit.
Justice Ahmed, through two orders, directed the defendants, their agents servants, privies, assignees or any person acting on their behalf, to “maintain status quo and stay all actions and further actions in connection with all matters dealing with and or appertaining to the removal and or dethronement of Districts Heads in Sokoto State,” particularly those of Kebbe and Tambuwal, pending the hearing and determination of the motion for interlocutory injunction duly filed by the two before the court.
The order is coming at a time the State House of Assembly has passed the bill seeking to whittle all the powers of the Sultan of Sokoto which were transferred to the governor.
In the Executive Bill, the governor is seeking an amendment of the state Local Government Law on the appointment and deposition of district and village heads, to confer him with the exclusive powers to appoint and dethrone the traditional rulers, a function hitherto reserved for the Sultan.
The sacking of 15 district heads and the bill had sparked insinuations that the governor plans to remove the Sultan, Dr Saadu Abubakar.
The reactions and heated debate across the state and the country, made Vice President Kashim Shettima to caution the governor against any attempt to depose the Sultan, a claim the state government has denied.
