A file photo of APC Caretaker Committee Chairman and Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni, at the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja on June 29, 2020.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to effect the removal of Governor Mai Mala Buni as the governor of Yobe State.

Lawyer to the main opposition party, Emeka Etiaba, made the request in a four-page originating summons filed at the court on Thursday.

The party prayed the court to make the governor appear before it and defend whether or not he ceased to be governor by accepting to be the Caretaker Committee Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The first page of the originating summons filed by the PDP.

It stated that Governor Buni has breached the provision of Section 183 of the Constitution when as a governor, he also serves as the ruling party’s caretaker chairman.

Also joined as plaintiffs in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/885/2021 were the Yobe State PDP Governorship Candidate in 2019, Umar Iliya Damagum, and his running mate, Baba Abba Aji.

Listed as defendants were Governor Buni, his deputy, Idi Barde Gubana, the APC, and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The second page of the originating summons filed by the PDP.

The Controversy

The suit filed by the main opposition party comes on the heels of the Supreme Court judgement in the case between the Ondo State Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, and Mr Eyitayo Jegede – the PDP candidate in the Ondo Governorship election of 2020.

Before approaching the apex court, Jegede and his party had asked the Court of Appeal in Akure to sack Akeredolu on the ground that his nomination form was signed by Buni – a sitting governor who doubled as the APC Caretaker Committee Chairman.

The third page of the originating summons filed by the PDP.

They argued that constitutional provision forbade sitting governors from occupying executive offices outside their statutory position.

The appellate court had, however, struck out the appeal for lack of merit. This made the appellants seek redress at the Supreme Court.

In a majority judgement of four against three delivered on July 28, a seven-man panel of justices of the apex court upheld the re-election of Governor Akeredolu.

The fourth page of the originating summons filed by the PDP.

But the other three justices disagreed with the majority judgement, saying the appeal filed by the appellants had merit and ought not to be struck out by the appellate court.

Since the judgement, the verdict of the Supreme Court has become a subject of debate on whether a sitting governor can take up a role such as the Caretaker Committee Chairman of the APC.

The suit filed by the PDP on Thursday at the Federal High Court in Abuja is the latest among many other reactions triggered by the decision of the apex court.