Tamparuli assemblyman Jahid @ Noordin Jahim, who is a nominal appellant, also withdrew his appeal.

Musa, 69, who was chief minister for 15 years from 2003, had sued Sabah governor Juhar Mahiruddin and former chief minister Shafie Apdal.

Lawyer Firoz Hussein Ahmad Jamaluddin, who represented Jahid, told a three-member Federal Court bench chaired by Rohana Yusuf the withdrawal was due to a change in government following the Sabah election in September last year.

“It is better to focus on harmony and not to have any distractions in the state,” he said.

Musa’s lawyer, Tengku Fuad Ahmad, adopted Hussein’s submission.

Rohana, who sat with Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim and Mohd Zawawi Salleh, then struck out the appeals by Musa and Jahid.

The bench ordered Musa to pay RM60,000 in costs and Jahid RM20,000 to Shafie, who was represented by Cyrus Das and Douglas T Lind.

It did not order costs to Juhar as the state Attorney-General’s Chambers had agreed not to make a claim after lawyers for Musa and Jahid informed them about the withdrawal.

Senior state counsel Brendon Soh represented Juhar in the proceeding conducted virtually.

Hussein had earlier urged the court not to make any award on costs as the subject matter was on constitutional issues of public importance.

“It is clearly not a personal tussle between two individuals but a constitutional matter,” he said.

Lind said cost should be awarded as the appellants only informed the court about their withdrawal last week and did not file any written submission.

Das said the “change in circumstances” had been there for about six months but they were only informed about the withdrawal recently.

The constitutional crisis broke out after Juhar declared Shafie as the chief minister on May 10, 2018, barely 48 hours after he had reappointed Musa.

Jahid had sued Shafie, assembly speaker Syed Abas Syed Ali and legislative secretary Bernard J Dalinting.

The Federal Court, in a 2-1 majority ruling on Aug 26, allowed a leave application by Musa and approved 10 constitutional questions to be argued during the appeal.

Judge Abdul Rahman Sebli said the merits of the appeal must be heard as the questions of law posed were of grave importance.

He said the people of Sabah had the right to know whether Musa’s removal was done in accordance with the Sabah constitution. Judge Zabariah Mohd Yusof concurred with Rahman.

In a written judgment later, Rahman said it was public knowledge that the 2018 political turmoil and constitutional crisis was not the first that the people of Sabah had to face.

“It will not be the last if not finally resolved by this court,” he said, in an apparent reference to the political instability that ensued after the state elections in 1985 and 1994.

Mohd Zawawi Salleh, who was in the minority, said the leave application was academic as the Election Commission had fixed nomination day to conduct a snap 16th Sabah election on Sept 26 last year.

High Court judge Yew Jen Kie, who threw out Musa’s bid to challenge the legality of Shafie’s appointment, had cited a 2010 Federal Court ruling in the Perak case as a precedent.

Yew said the case had laid down the legal principles that there was no mandatory requirement for a no-confidence motion against a chief minister before he could be considered as having lost the confidence of the majority of assemblymen.

In March last year, the three-member court also dismissed Musa’s appeal as academic.

In the May 9, 2018 election, Musa, who led Barisan Nasional (BN), won 29 seats.

The opposition coalition, consisting of Shafie’s Warisan, DAP and PKR, secured 29 seats while Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR) won two seats.

BN and STAR, which had 31 seats in the 60-member assembly, entered into a coalition government, leading to Musa being sworn in as chief minister.

However, two days later, five assemblymen from Upko shifted their allegiance to Shafie’s camp and he was then sworn in as chief minister.

This led Musa to seek a declaration from the court that he was still the rightful head of government because a vote of no-confidence had not been taken against him.

Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) won last year’s election to form the new state government. GRS, comprising PN, BN and PBS, won 38 seats – with PN taking 17 seats, BN 14 and PBS seven.

Warisan Plus, comprising Warisan, DAP, PKR and Upko, won 32 seats. Another three seats went to independent candidates, who aligned themselves with GRS in the state government.

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