By Chijioke Kingsley
Abuja (Sundiata Post) – The Appeal Court ruling that sacked the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Plateau National Assembly lawmakers have met with protests in Jos, with youths blocking the popular airport junction roundabout, and ever busy Mararaban Jama’a roundabout respectively.
The youths in their numbers while shutting down the two popular junctions carried placards with inscriptions saying that they disagree with a judgement that dethroned the lawmakers asking for a reversal of the verdict.
Some of the inscriptions also read that the target of the judges who they believed were working for the All Progressive Congress (APC), is to get the Governor, Caleb Mutfwang removed from office.
The protesters vowed to resist future Appeal Court judgements sacking another lawmaker of the Plateau Assembly and that of the Governor which will be coming up in a few days. https://sundiatapost.com/stop-painting-the-judiciary-black-plateau-apc-group-warns-pdp/
Our correspondent reports that the people of Plateau voted overwhelmingly for all candidates of the PDP in the 2023 general elections, a mandate they believed was being stolen through the backdoor of the court.
However, the protesters in an open letter addressed to the chairman of the National Judicial Council (NJC), titled “an urgent need to salvage the Judiciary from plunging into the arena of politics, total disregard to Judicial precedents and stare Decisis”, was read by the group leader, Yakubu Ibrahim.
Ibrahim called the chairman of NJC to constitute a commission inquiry into the nature of the failure of the Court of Appeal to follow judicial precedents. https://sundiatapost.com/appeal-court-plateau-group-wants-cjn-njc-to-prevail-over-judges/
According to him: “The President of the Court of Appeal should immediately disband the Plateau State election Appeal Court Panel and a new one should be constituted to hear the remaining appeals as the current panel has shown manifest bias to unduly favour the APC candidates”, he said.
Ibrahim added that the patently prejudiced and inconsistent judgements of the panel already delivered in the appeals should also be subjected to judicial review adding that these judgements were given without substantive and procedural jurisdiction.
