Niger: Judge withdraws from Chanchaga LG case
yarkarkara
Justice Mohammed Mohammed of High Court No. 4 sitting in Minna, Niger State, has recused himself from the case involving the embattled Chairman of Chanchaga Local Government Area, Aminu Ladan, and his councillors, transferring the matter to a High Court in Suleja.
The judge’s decision follows a petition addressed to the Chief Judge of Niger State, Justice Halima Ibrahim Abdulmalik, by the councillors, requesting that Justice Mohammed be restrained from presiding over the matter.
The case had earlier been instituted by Chairman Aminu Ladan, through his counsel, Barr. Anthony Orifumishe, seeking to prevent the councillors from suspending him from office.
On Friday, August 1, 2025, Justice Mohammed granted an interim order restraining the councillors from carrying out any act of suspension or impeachment against the chairman. The court also issued an interim injunction restraining the ten defendants, particularly Yahuza Sa’idu and Mohammed Mohammed, from acting upon the suspension notice served on the chairman on July 28, 2025, pending the determination of the motion for an interlocutory injunction.
In addition, the court granted an interim injunction restraining the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Niger State from initiating or commencing any process aimed at removing or impeaching the chairman, by any means whatsoever, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.
However, at the resumed hearing on Wednesday, Justice Mohammed announced his withdrawal from the case due to the petition filed against him.
“I want to formally inform you that I am restraining myself from the matter. There was a petition filed to the Honourable Chief Judge that I should transfer the case to a Suleja High Court,” he stated in court.
Reacting to the development, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Jacobs Johnson Usman, counsel to the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, said Justice Mohammed’s withdrawal was in response to the petition from the defendants.
“The defendants said they don’t have confidence in his court. They alleged that he was the one that presided over the case that brought the plaintiff to office as the Chairman of Chanchaga Local Government. It is on that ground the judge restrained himself from the case, which has now been transferred to the vacation judge in Suleja,” Usman explained.
