Appeal Court reinstates Adamawa lawmaker sacked over defection

The Court of Appeal has ordered the immediate reinstatement of Joseph Ayuba Kwada to his seat as member representing Michika Constituency in the Adamawa State House of Assembly.

The court, sitting in Yola on Thursday, ordered that Joseph Kwada, who was sacked by the Adamawa House of Assembly on April 27, 2022, on grounds of defection from the party under which he was elected into the house, be reinstated and allowed to complete his four-year term ending in June, 2023.

The court further ordered the state government to settle all the salaries and other entitlements due to him since his removal from office in April last year to date.

Kwada who was elected into the Adamawa State House of Assembly on the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, had defected to the All Progressives Congress, APC, after which the leadership of the assembly declared his seat vacant.

Justice Muhammed Lawal Abubakar of the Court of Appeal had in his ruling reversed the removal of the legislator for lack of fair hearing, saying that the assembly and its Speaker, Aminu Iya Abbas, breached the fundamental rights to fair hearing guaranteed to the appellant by the 1999 Constitution.

The court orders in effect dismissed an earlier decision of the Federal High Court in Yola which on October 12, 2022 upheld the Adamawa State House of Assembly’s resolution sacking Joseph Kwada.

Kwada had told the court that he was not served a notice of the allegations against him, and he was thus not given the opportunity to defend himself.