The long drawn legal battle over tenure elongation between the Independent National Electoral Commission and the governors of Sokoto, Bayelsa, Adamawa, Cross River and Kogi states has finally been resolved, with the Supreme Court sacking the five governors from their offices.
The five affected governors are Ibrahim Idris of Kogi state, Aliyu Wammako of Sokoto state, Murtala Nyako of Adamawa state, Liyel Imoke of Cross River state and Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa state.
The court had put the five governors in suspense at the end of the hearing of the case in November 2011 when it reserved its judgment indefinitely.
But the court today ruled in favour of the Independent National Electoral Commission, which had sought to reverse the decision of the Court of Appeal upholding the ruling of a lower court giving fresh term to the five governors whose elections in April 2007 were invalidated.
The implication of the ruling is that the speakers in the affected states would take over as acting governors for three months within which INEC will be expected to conduct fresh elections in the states.
INEC had insisted that the four-year tenure of the governors commenced on May 29, 2007 when they were first administered oaths of office and allegiance, arguing that the fact that their respective elections were did not render the oaths they took null and void.
INEC therefore pleaded the Apex Court to set-aside the lower court judgments that extended the tenure of the governors on the premise that it erroneously construed the provision of section 1999 constitution.
