SAN FRANCISCO, December 16, (THEWILL) – The Supreme Court, on Friday, dismissed an appeal filed by ex- governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako, seeking reinstatement to complete his tenure of office.
Nyako was on July 15, 2014, impeached as governor after spending three years in office and had approached the Supreme Court after he failed to get re-instated at the appellate court.
Justice Tanko Muhammad, who led a seven-man panel of the apex court, held that the appeal lacked merit because Nyako’s counsel compromised the case at the lower court when he withdrew the prayer seeking the ex-governor’s reinstatement.
“This court agrees with the earlier decision of the Court of Appeal that declared Nyako’s removal from office as illegal,” he said.
“We also agreed with the decision of the lower court that failed to reinstate the appellant because of the special facts of the case.
“There could be no ground of appeal when a litigant’s case was compromised by his or her counsel and on that score alone the appeal failed.
“However, the remedy by the appeal of the court ordering the payment of salaries and other entitlements accruable to the appellant for the period he was illegally removed from office, was in order.”
Story by Oputah David
