Court restores Mahdi Gusau as Zamfara deputy governor

A Federal High Court in Abuja has restored Mahdi Aliyu Gusau as the Deputy Governor of Zamfara State.

Gusau was impeached by the State House of Assembly on February 23, 2022, in spite of a subsisting court order.

But on Wednesday, June 21, 2023, Justice Inyang Ekwo ruled that the indictment by the judicial panel constituted by former Governor Bello Matawalle and his impeachment of Gusau were done in disregard to the matter before the court.

The judge held that the act of the then assembly’s speaker, ex-governor, chief judge and others was an aberration and could not be allowed to stand.

“An order is hereby made restoring the status quo of the Plaintiff/Applicant (Mahadi Aliyy Mohammed) wholly to the position of Deputy Governor of Zamfara State as at the 8th day of July, 2021 when this suit was commenced,” the judge said.

“An order is hereby made setting aside all the steps taken, proceeding/proceedings conducted and acts or things done by the defendants in furtherance of the purported impeachment proceedings or impeachment of the Deputy Governor of Zamfara State, during the pendency of this suit before this court.”

Recall that in June 2021, the former governor of the state, Matawalle, the state’s three senators, members of the House of Representatives and that of the House of Assembly all defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to All Progressives Congress (APC).

But Gusau, who refused to defect to the APC with them was consequently impeached by the state House of Assembly.