State Umno Youth chief Abdul Aziz Julkarnain said party members were now in high spirits and described Musa as Sabah’s “legitimate chief minister”.

“Musa is still the lawful CM. Of course, we are happy with his return and most definitely our spirits are high,” he told reporters today.

Musa was initially sworn in as chief minister, but his team crumbled following several defections from BN, resulting in Warisan’s Shafie Apdal getting the majority needed to form the state government.

Musa has yet to take his oath as Sungai Sibuga assemblyman and has until Sept 11 to do so.

Musa has also taken Shafie to court to challenge his appointment as CM.

Aziz questioned the Sabah governor for swearing in Shafie as the CM, just two days after Musa was sworn in.

“The governor has no power to sack (Musa as CM) but only to appoint the CM. How can there be two CMs in a matter of two days?

“We hope the judiciary and the government now will accord justice to Musa,” he added.

Aziz meanwhile challenged Umno reps who switched their allegiance to Warisan to relinquish their seats in order to pave way for by-elections.

“It is only fair. If they really wanted to see whether they have the genuine support of the people, they should step down to make way for by-elections,” he said.

But Aziz said Umno accepted its defeat in the May 9 polls.

“In life, we will taste victory and defeat; it is a cycle of life. We need to do some soul searching to find out why we lost.”