The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned till Tuesday the hearing of 13 appeals filed in respect of the governorship tussles in six states.
The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad, had earlier abruptly suspended proceedings after indicating that an unnamed member of the seven-man panel was seriously ill.
Although all the six other members of the panel were sitting with the CJN when the development was announced, the ailing one among them was not identified.
The panel was being expected to resume sitting when, in about an hour’s time, a top official of the court announced to the packed courtroom that all the appeals had been adjourned till Tuesday.
Until the adjournment of the cases, many were expecting that the ailing judge would either recover or a replacement among the other Justices of the Supreme Court would be brought for the proceedings to continue on Monday.
Listed on the day’s cause list were 13 appeals relating to the governorship tussles in Kano, Imo, Benue, Plateau, Bauchi and Sokoto states.
The premises of the Supreme Court played host to a huge crowd of supporters of politicians from the various states on Monday.
The cases paraded over 40 Senior Advocates of Nigeria, who were to appear in different cases.
Meanwhile, there has been tension in Imo State following the announcement by the Supreme Court that it would on Monday deliver judgment on the petitions against the declaration of Emeka Ihedioha as the governor of the state by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
While members of the Peoples Democratic Party are upbeat that the Supreme Court would uphold Ihedioha’s victory, members of the All Progressives Congress and the All Progressives Grand Alliance are hopeful that the judgment would go in their favour.
In Sokoto, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of the Peoples Democratic Party won with a slim margin of 342 votes after a supplementary election.
The All Progressives Congress in Sokoto State and its governorship candidate, Alhaji Ahmed Sokoto, challenged the victory up to the Supreme Court.
