I will report to work today – Gadi

Written by Daily Trust Tuesday, 29 June 2010 05:34

Impeached deputy governor of Bauchi State Alhaji Garba Mohammed Gadi, who was reinstated by a high court last Friday, says he will report to work today despite claims that Bauchi government had filed an appeal against the high court judgment that quashed his impeachment last Friday.

Gadi, who was impeached by the state house of assembly on August 13 last year for alleged “gross misconduct”, told newsmen in Kano yesterday that he would also claim damages in court against Governor Isa Yuguda and some of his aides for tarnishing his hard earned reputation.

A Bauchi High Court on Friday last week ordered the reinstatement of the impeached deputy governor, describing his removal as “unconstitutional, null and void” since the matter for which he was removed from office was still pending in court.

Asked how it was going to be today following his victory at high court, the reinstated deputy governor said, “It should be a normal day for me and I will go to the office on Monday (today) at 8am”.

Equally, Gadi said it was not true that the state government had appealed against the verdict of the high court since the Bauchi judgment was not passed until after 3pm on Friday.

“They are claiming that they have appealed against the judgment; but it is not true. This is because even the court order was not released until after 3pm on Friday. To crown it all, the presiding judge of the court of appeal in Jos was not even in Jos on Friday. That was our discovery; so they are telling lies”, he said.

He also said incumbent deputy governor Alhaji Babayo Gamawa should vacate the office for him as ordered by the court, saying Gamawa’s failure to do so would amount to making a contempt for which the law has provided its remedies.

The reinstated deputy governor said he was grateful to God and all Nigerians for the support and sympathy that culminated in Friday’s judgment which he described as a “credit to Nigeria’s judiciary”.

Isa Yuguda, he said, had made it clear that I must be impeached whether I was at fault or not and until Yuguda left office no judgment would be entered. “So I am grateful to God the Almighty that Yuguda is alive and a judgment was passed against his interest”, he said.

On next year’s general election, Gadi said he had no personal aspiration except what the people decide. He also said the incumbent governor cannot be an imposition on the people. “Yuguda had only one vote; I also had only one vote; we have been voted by millions of people. And tomorrow if they decided to vote for another person as their leader, they can do so”, he said.