Sabah Umno assistant secretary Masidi Manjun, who is incoming Karanaan assemblyman, said Musa’s suit was necessary to determine the powers of the state governor.
Musa’s action seeks to have the court determine if he was lawfully still the chief minister.
Last week, the governor, or Yang Dipertua Negeri, sworn in Parti Warisan Sabah leader Shafie Apdal as chief minister and asked Musa to resign after Shafie obtained enough support for a majority in the state assembly.
Masidi said the suit was not about a power struggle to be chief minister, but about the respect and compliance on the rule of law and the Sabah state constitution.
“It is also necessary to enable the court to determine and interpret the legal provisions in respect of powers of the TYT Yang DiPertua Negeri (Sabah governor) under the constitution in the appointment of chief minister.
“The legal action filed by Musa is also an opportunity for the court to determine once and for all the extent of powers of the constitutional head of state in appointing another chief minister within days of having legally sworn in the first one.”
He said the law should be allowed to take its course without any interference.
He said constitutional experts including a former Sabah Attorney-General contended that Musa had secured a simple majority of 31 members when two members of Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR) agreed to form a coalition government with Musa’s 29 Barisan Nasional members.
STAR was at liberty to choose any side to form the Sabah government, being “kingmakers” in deciding the stalemate between BN and the Warisan-Pakatan Harapan coalition, who both had 29 seats each.