Court Stops Cross River State Assembly From Impeaching Council Vice Chair

A Cross River State High Court sitting in Ogoja has restrained the State House of Assembly from taking further steps in the impeachment process of Ogoja local government council Vice Chairman, Emmanuel Yakubu.

The order was issued following an Originating Summons filed by Yakubu, through his lawyers, First Baba Isa of FBI Legal, challenging the legality of the impeachment process initiated by the Ogoja Legislative Council and subsequently acted upon by the State House of Assembly.

The Cross River State House of Assembly had earlier announced the suspension of the vice chairman Mr.Yakubu for 90 days after receiving an impeachment notice from the Ogoja legislative council.

The House invoked Section 14(3) of the Cross River State local government law and resolved to suspend the Vice Chairman pending investigation by its Committee on Judiciary, Public Service Matters, Public Petitions, and Conflict Resolution.

The case, with Suit No: HJ/11/2026, is before Justice D. O. Kulo, with Hon. Emmanuel Yakubu as claimant and the Ogoja Legislative Council and six others as defendants.

Yakubu is seeking judicial interpretation of Sections 12 (3, 4 & 5), 13, 14, 16, and 17 of the Cross River State Local Government Law, 2007, as well as Sections 7 and 6(6)(a) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

Yakubu contends that the impeachment process has “automatically been terminated by effluxion of time,” having failed to comply with the strict procedural requirements under Section 12(3), (4), and (5) of the Local Government Law.

He also wants the court to determine whether the Leader of the Legislative Council informed the Chief Judge within 7 days as required for the constitution of a seven-man investigative panel and whether the Assembly has the constitutional power to suspend a duly elected Vice Chairman of a Local Government.

Justice Kulo, in his ruling, “restrained the 3rd and 4th defendants/respondents as well as the Cross River State House of Assembly Committee on legislative matters, their agents and or privies from continuing with the hearing of the impeachment proceedings against the claimant/applicant.”

He added that “the claimant shall ensure that all the parties are duly served with the originating summons and the motion on notice set down for adoption within fourteen days from the date hereof without which this interim order shall vacate itself.”

Speaking on the matter, counsel to the claimant, First Baba Isa, described the impeachment process as “legally dead.” saying ,“Section 12(3), (4) and (5) of the Cross River State Local Government Law is clear and unambiguous.

Where the law prescribes a timeline and procedure, it must be strictly complied with. Failure to act within the statutory 14 days and subsequent 7 days means the impeachment process has automatically terminated by effluxion of time.”

He further stated that the process adopted is “unknown to law” and that the Supreme Court has consistently held that “where a statute provides a method of doing a thing, it must be done in that manner or not at all.”

The suit also challenges the constitutionality of Sections 13, 14, 16, and 17 of the Cross River State Local Government Law, which allegedly empower the Governor and the House of Assembly to suspend or remove elected local government officials.

The claimant argues that these provisions are inconsistent with Sections 1 and 7 of the 1999 Constitution, which guarantee the supremacy of the Constitution and the system of democratically elected local governments.

End.