Supreme court moves to sack five sitting Governors

Baring any sudden last minute changes, in what appears to be a deft move targeting Bayelsa State Governor, Chief Timipre Sylva and his Sokoto State counterpart, Aliyu Wammako, THEWILL has gathered from multiple connected sources that the Supreme Court will in a couple of hours remove 5 State Governors from office when the 7-panel justices headed by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Dahiru Musdapher, delivers its ruling in the controversial tenure elongation suit filed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), seeking to quash the tenure elongation approved for the 5 governors by a Federal High Court and upheld by an appeal court.

The other governors are Alhaji Ibrahim Idris (Kogi State), Admiral Murtala Nyako (Adamawa State), and Senator Liyel Imoke (Cross River State). The five of them belong to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The trio of Imoke, Nyako and Wammako have already secured their party’s ticket ahead of their State’s governorship elections scheduled to hold at different dates this year. Imoke and Nyako however enjoy a great deal of popularity in their states and have the backing of the PDP and the Presidency to return to office. The same cannot however be said for Wammako, who though has secured his party’s ticket, may still be blocked by the PDP and Presidency because he did not support the election of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Kogi State already has a governor-elect waiting to be sworn following a governorship election that was conducted in December, 2011.

The biggest loser of the lot is Timipre Sylva, who was disqualified from contesting in the Bayelsa State PDP primary; and would be arrested, detained and prosecuted on various charges ranging from corruption to treason, THEWILL was told by reliable sources. (He allegedly threatened to kill President Jonathan and his wife because they refused to support his re-election bid). The Governor has since fallen out with the President who was his predecessor in office. Sylva’s sin was that he frustrated efforts at the National Assembly to make then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan Acting President, during the long absence from office of late President Umaru Yar’Adua, due to an ailment that eventually led to his demise.

Sources conversant with the plan told THEWILL Thursday that the SSS operatives attached to Sylva have been directed to detain him as soon as his sack is announced.

Sylva is presently in court challenging the PDP’s decision to block him from seeking the party’s ticket.

There is however panic across the five states following the development, as the Governors have relocated to Abuja -- Nyako and Sylva have been in Abuja for over a week -- Sources close to the Governors told THEWILL that they are all aware that their terms would probably come to end in a couple of hours and have made contingency plans to manage the situation at their various states.

The Speakers of the State Assemblies in the states affected will assume office as acting governors if indeed the governors are removed by the court as expected, and INEC will have to conduct fresh polls within a stipulated period, usually 3-6 months.

http://thewillnigeria.com/politics/12108-Anxiety-Supreme-Court-Moves-Sack-Governors-landmark-Judgement.html

Make we dey watch na.