Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

FEMI GBAJABIAMILA: The Nigerian Speaker Who Makes Laws and ‘Disobeys’ Court Order

The Speaker’s action might not go down well as persistent disobedience to a court order can lead to contempt. “[And] this offence may land him in prison.”

After the court ordered that Garba Chede, a politician from Bali/Gasol Federal Constituency of Taraba State, be sworn in as a member of House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, the Speaker whose responsibility is to carry out the order refused to honor the court.

When Chede met the House leader with the order of mandamus, a court directive mainly for a public servant to carry out a responsibility imposed on them under the law, the speaker told him there is somebody else above the court.

“There is somebody called Sarki Abba who is a Special Adviser on Domestic Affairs in the Presidency who has an interest on the current person,” Gbajabiamila was reported to have told Chede.

Garba Chede contested for the House of the Representatives seat for his constituency and lost to one Mubarak Gambo whom the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared winner in the 2019 election. But Chede challenged his counterpart’s victory in court and received a judgment declaring him the original winner of the election.

For someone who is a lawyer, Gbajabiamila knew the implications and the risk of his inaction.

The Speaker, deferring the court order admitted Abba’s statement that the current occupant of the seat at the lower chamber had gone to appeal the judgment. Therefore swearing-in for the person declared winner by the court cannot be automatic.

In a bid to make Gbajabiamila obey the judgment, Chede said he met the minority leader of the house, Hon. Ndidi Elumelu, to persuade the Speaker on his behalf which yielded no positive result.

“To my surprise, the speaker was so adamant to [disobeying] the ruling of the court,” he said.

Without wasting much time, Chebe has decided to head back to court as the last hope.

“When we are talking of court order, we are talking of the law and law supersedes every individual,”

Meanwhile, the Speaker’s action might not go down well as persistent disobedience to a court order can lead to contempt. “[And] this offence may land him in prison.”

For someone who is a lawyer, Gbajabiamila knew the implications and the risk of his inaction. This drives to the conclusion that the Speaker either deliberately ignored the possible implications or decided to take the risk for pretentious political gains.

“When we are talking of court order, we are talking of the law and law supersedes every individual,” Chede said when addressing the newsmen in Abuja. “I am surprised that he disobeyed court judgment and I doubt much how he will make law and disobey the law at the same time.”

Previously
Massacre: How Nigerian Security Operatives Rained Mayhem on Civilians Since 1999
Up Next
Nigerian Rich Are Taxed Enough

Related Topics

Most Viewed