A Federal High Court, sitting in Kano and presided over by Justice Simon Amobeda, has given 48 hours deadline to two Kano Judges, Justice Farouk Lawan Adamu and Justice Zuwaira Yusuf, who were appointed by Kano State Governor, Abba Yusuf to serve as Chairman of the ‘Judicial Commission of Inquiry for the Recovery of Misappropriated Public Properties and Assets” and Chairman of ‘Judicial Commission of Inquiry to investigate Political Violence and Missing Persons‘ respectively, to resign their appointments.
Justice Simon Amobeda gave the order while delivering his judgment in a case instituted by former governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje seeking the court to stop Governor Yusuf from probing his administration.
Justice Amobeda said failure by the judges to comply with the 48-hour deadline, the National Judicial Council (1st Defendant) shall stop forthwith, the payment of any remuneration, allowances and benefits meant for judicial officers from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation to the Judges.
He said the judges should desist from performing executive functions assigned to them by the Governor of Kano State in Court rooms meant to adjudicate disputes between persons and authorities in Kano State.
Justice Amobeda further said the action by the Governor to set up the commission of inquiries to investigate Ganduje without appealing an earlier court judgment by Justice A. Liman declaring that Ganduje can only be investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) or the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), amounts to abuse of office and undermining the sanctity of the Judiciary.
The court however, disagreed with the argument of the plaintiffs counsel that the judges cease to be judicial officers by accepting to be members of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry.
Meanwhile, respondents in the suit are: National Judicial Council (1st Defendant), Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (2nd), Attorney-General, Kano State (3rd), Hon. Justice Farouk Lawan Adamu and Hon. Justice Zuwaira Yusuf as 4th and 5th defendants respectively.
