Nigeria's Supreme Court dismisses five governors Published duration 27 January 2012

image caption The governors had all won re-run elections a year after their initial victories in 2007 were annulled

Nigeria's Supreme Court has ordered five of the country's powerful state governors to step down immediately.

It marks the end of a long legal battle about when exactly their terms in office, which last four years, began.

They were from the ruling People's Democratic Party, winning polls in 2007 in Bayelsa, Cross River, Kogi, Adamawa and Sokoto and vote re-runs in 2008.

The BBC's Fidelis Mbah in Lagos says it is a landmark judgement, asserting the authority of the judiciary.

Governors, who can serve no longer than two terms in office, enjoy wide powers in Nigeria.

Some, especially in oil-producing areas, control bigger budgets than those of national governments in some neighbouring West African countries.

'Stopping culture of impunity'

The five governors affected by the ruling had all won re-run elections a year after their initial victories in 2007 were annulled because of irregularities.

Last year, a lower court had exempted them from having to face elections in April 2011, saying their tenures had started in 2008.

But Supreme Court Judge Walter Onnoghen said on Friday: "To allow the governors seeking tenure elongation will allow a culture of impunity in the system", AFP news agency reports.

Our correspondent says the speakers of the respective state House of Assemblies will assume the governorships in Bayelsa and Cross River states in the south and Sokoto and Adamawa in the north until elections are held later in the year.

The central state of Kogi already has a governor-elect following elections in December, as the sitting governor was serving his last term in office.