Supreme Court sets June 6 for judgment in 20-year Kebbi Emirate dispute

The Supreme Court has fixed June 26 to deliver judgment in a suit instituted by Alhaji Al-Mustapha Jokolo, challenging his deposition as the Emir of Gwandu.

Justice Uwani Abba Aji, leading a five-man panel of the Supreme Court, gave the judgment date on the appeals and cross-appeal in respect of the Gwandu emirate tussle on Tuesday.

Specifically, the appeals challenge the seven-year-old order of the Sokoto Division of the Court of Appeal, which reinstated HRH Alhaji Mustapha Jokolo as the 19th Emir of Gwandu.

Since the order for the reinstatement of Jokolo was made, the Kebbi State government has refused to obey it.

Jokolo was deposed in 2005, and he immediately challenged his dethronement at the State High Court.

In 2014, a State High Court sitting in Birnin Kebbi ordered Alhaji Jokolo’s immediate reinstatement, having been satisfied that he was illegally deposed and that due process was not followed.

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Not satisfied with the judgment, the Kebbi State Government and Jokolo’s successor filed an appeal challenging the decision of the State High Court.

In 2016, the three judges of the appellate court also held that the deposition of the Emir contravened sections 6 and 7 of the Chief Appointment and Deposition Law of the State because the Governor neither made an inquiry into the allegations against the Emir nor consulted the Kebbi State Council of Chiefs before arriving at his decision.

At a resumed sitting, all parties adopted their briefs of argument before the panel fixed the June 26 judgment date.

In the matter at the Supreme Court, Sylvester Imhanobe, Esq. represented the deposed Emir, while Yakubu Maikyau (SAN) announced his appearance for the Kebbi State Governor.

Jokolo was the Aide-De-Camp (ADC) to former Head of State, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, in 1983.

Shortly after his retirement from the Nigerian Army as a Major, Jokolo ascended the throne of the Gwandu Emirate as the Emir of Gwandu in July 1995, following the death of his father, Alhaji Haruna Al-Rasheed.

However, some years after Jokolo ascended the throne, he was deposed by the former Kebbi State governor, Adamu Aliero, on June 3, 2005, and reportedly banished to Lafia.