The Hausa-Fulani Forum of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has called on the National Judicial Council (NJC) to review the recent Court of Appeal judgments that sacked some members of the National Assembly from Plateau.
The forum made the call at a press conference on Thursday in Jos.
Alhaji Abdulkarim Yaro, Secretary of Plateau chapter of the forum, who addressed the conference, said that the lawmakers were duly elected by their constituents, and urged the NJC to take a second look at the judgments with a view to “ensure that justice is done”.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the court of appeal, sitting in Abuja, sacked two Senators and four members of the House of Representatives from the state.
The appeal cited lack of structure in the PDP, the platform on which the lawmakers ran for the offices.
But Yaro, while faulting the judgments, argued that the call for review became necessary because the grounds used by the appellate court to sack the lawmakers were “purely pre-election matters”.
“We are here to express our displeasure with the recent judgments by the appeal court because we feel robbed of our mandates.
”In other states, issues around candidates’ emergence were treated as pre-election matters and dismissed. The case of Plateau should not be different.
“So, the Muslim community in Plateau has come out to speak against this injustice; we call on President Bola Tinubu to wade into the matter.
”We initially came out to hold a peaceful protest but the Police stopped us and, as law-abiding citizens, we decided to obey. We opted for a press conference.”
Also speaking, Hajia Lubabatu Ali, the Women Leader of the forum, called on critical stakeholders in the nation’s judiciary to “rise against the injustice meted against Plateau people”.
”We massively voted for candidates of the PDP and the party won. In some contests, the margins were very wide.
“I participated in the congresses they are using as grounds to deliver these sad judgments; these congresses were conducted in the presence of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Everyone witnessed them.
”We are not happy with these judgments; the PDP lawmakers are not illegal because we voted the party and the people we voted into office are working,” she stated.
Ali further advised the judiciary to be “fair and just in the handling of Plateau election matters”.
NAN recalls that youths from Plateau’s 17 Local Governments staged a peaceful protest in Jos on Wednesday where they called on the NJC to review the judgments on Plateau elections.
Lawmakers sacked by the appeal court include Sen. Simon Mwadkwon (Plateau North), and Sen. Napoleon Bali (Plateau South).
Also sacked were four members of the House of Representatives – Dachung Bagos(Jos South/Jos East), Beni Lar (Langtang North/Langtang South), Musa Agah (Bassa/Jos North) and Ibrahim Gyendeng (Riyom/Barkin Ladi).(NAN)
DISCLAIMER
The OPINION / COLUMN is authored by independent contributors to the National Accord Newspaper. While contributors adhere to our editorial guidelines, they are not employed by the National Accord Newspaper. The perspectives and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of the National Accord Newspaper or its staff.
Leave a Reply