The High Court 2 sitting in Gusau, the Zamfara state capital Wednesday dismissed the suit filed by 14 elected local government chairmen under the APC administration of former Governor Abdulaziz Yari, challenging the state assembly, office of the Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice and Zamfara state government, for untimely dissolution.
They said the dissolution is contrary to section 7 that complemented Section 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 of Zamfara state Local Government Laws 2012 as amended.
The presiding judge, Justice Bello Shinkafi, in his final ruling on the case, said the court dismissed it for an abuse of process condemned by the Supreme Court provision for having similar suits before different courts in the state.
Addressing journalists shortly after the sitting, the director, Civil Litigation of the state Ministry of Justice who represented the state government and Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Barrister Surajo Abdullahi and his assistant, Barrister Bello Aliyu said, the dismissal of the case was as a result of having similar suits before different courts of law, challenging what they attributed to illegal dissolution when their tenure has not expired.
Barrister Surajo Abdullahi stated that the motive behind the dissolution by the state government was as a result of their refusal to complement security and Zamfara state government’s efforts on insecurity issues which bedeviled the state for almost a decade. There were cattle rustlers, kidnappers, armed bandits and other heinous activities that led to killings, maimings, destruction of innocent lives, properties and villages in the state.
The counsel to the APC local government chairmen, Barrister Surajo Garba, admitted the mistake of filling similar case at different courts in the state as challenged by the High Court 2 which led to the dismissal of their case.
