Niger: Court stops appointment of Sarkin Sudan Kontagora, restrains govt from issuing staff of office

A Minna High Court has ordered Mohammed Barau Kontagora to stop parading himself as the 7th Sarkin Sudan Kontagora by virtue of the selection purportedly held on 19th day of September 2021.

The court gave the order Tuesday after hearing the motion ex-parte moved by Barrister W. Y Mamman on behalf of 15 plaintiffs.

Presided over by Justice Abdullahi Mikailu, the court also restrained the defendants, including the Niger state Attorney General and the state Commissioner of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs from installing or issuing staff of office to Mohammed Barau Kontagora as the 7th Sarkin Sudan of Kontagora.

In a five-paragraph affidavit of urgency, one Adam Muhammad Nasir deposed that “immediately the announcement of the 1st defendant/ respondent was made, some youths in Kontagora were mobilising for show down and mass protest over the said selection of the 7th Sarkin Sudan Kontagora.”

The affidavit also stated that in the midst of all this, the 2nd and 3rd defendants gave a certificate of recognition to the 1st defendant on October 8, 2021 when tension had begun to build up in the chiefdom.

According to the affidavit, “Unless this Hon Court restrains all the defendants/respondents quickly, they will destroy the rest and put this Hon Court in the state of hopelessness and helplessness.”

The 15 plaintiffs, who are eligible to contest for the royal throne, are claiming that due process was not followed in the selection of the new Sarkin Sudan Kontagora.