Ismail Omipidan
Barring any eleventh minute change of plan, the Supreme Court will tomorrow, Monday, May 28, hear the appeal filed by the 20th Emir of Gwandu Emirate in Kebbi State, Alhaji Muhammad Bashar, against the reinstatement of the 19th emir, Al-Mustapha Jokolo.
At the last adjourned date in November last year, Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour, leading a five-member panel of justices, had held that two of the motions listed for hearing at the time were not yet before the court, thereby forcing the court to adjourn the matter, just as he directed parties to “ensure that all motions are properly filed and placed before the court before the next adjourned date.”
Sunday Sun recalls that the Court of Appeal, in Sokoto, had on April 14, 2016, reaffirmed the decision of the Kebbi State High Court, which reinstated the deposed Jokolo as Emir of Gwandu.
The appellate court also ordered that all his salaries and entitlements for the 10 years he was out of office be paid to him as ordered by the High Court.
But before the state government could implement the court’s judgment, the incumbent emir, Bashar, approached the apex court to challenge the judgment of both the Appeal Court and the High Court.
He wants the apex court to set aside the decision of the lower courts, insisting that he (Bashar) was “legitimately” appointed as Emir of Gwandu after Jokolo’s deposition by the state government in June 2005.
He further contends that the process of deposing an emir was enshrined in the state’s legal framework, saying that Jokolo’s deposition followed due process. He listed Jokolo, the state government and 12 others as respondents.
Meanwhile, Sunday Sun gathered that anxiety has gripped subjects of Gwandu Emirate as well as the Abdullahi Fodio Palace as the bid by Jokolo to reclaim his stool, 13 years after he was deposed, is slowly but steadily coming to an end.
At the Abdullahi Fodio Palace, the seat of the Emirate, it was gathered that there was palpable tension as well as anxiety as members of the Royal family wondered which direction the case would take. Supporters of Jokolo in and outside the palace, especially at the Old Birnin Kebbi town, also seemed anxious to have the verdict in their favour, but those on the side of the present emir appeared tensed, even as they were also praying “for the proverbial cup” to pass them by.
A member of the Royal family who declined to have his name in print said the mood at the palace was mixed.
According to the source, while some at the palace had taken sides, some were still neutral, arguing that the present emir had done nothing wrong nor offended anyone either at the palace or anywhere within the emirate. He was, however, of the view that if the court finds that injustice was done to Jokolo and decides to reinstates him, “the government should respect and comply with court order.”
Jokolo on his part has consistently maintained that the battle he was fighting was not his alone but for the recognition and freedom of the traditional institution in Nigeria, so as to prevent “unconstitutional removal of traditional rulers by the political class.”