By Peter Amine
The Plateau chapter of the APC has congratulated Chief John Dafaan over his victory at the Court of Appeal as the member-elect for Shendam/Qua’an-Pan/Mikang Federal Constituency.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Friday nullified the election of Rep Isaac Kwallu of PDP and declared Dafaan as winner.
APC in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Mr Sylvanus Namang, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Jos, described Dafaan’s victory as well deserved.
Namang said that APC had confidence in Dafaan, the former Chief of Staff to ex-Gov. Simon Lalong, to offer quality reprsentation to his constituents.
The publicity secretary lauded the Appeal Court judgment and described it as a landmark victory.
“This fair, firm and unanimous decision of the court has, indeed, portrayed the judiciary as a hallowed temple of justice.
“Its stand is a deft move towards protecting and preserving the integrity and independence of the judiciary.
“This is in spite of mischievous attempts in some quarters to put the judiciary on a needless social media trial through several ill-motivated smear campaigns.
“The judgment is unprecedented, sound and historic in all ramifications.
“To say the least, the judgment is a page-turning development in the annals of our jurisprudence, as the judges have stood very strong and tall in their decisions, regardless of all the innuendos and blackmails,” he stressed.
Namang further stated that the APC was particularly satisfied with the ratio decidendi of the judgment, one of which was the fact that because “the PDP is in disobedience of court orders, it is not qualified to sponsor candidates for any election in the state”.
According to him, an icing on the cake is one of the court’s pronouncements that “candidates who contested on the platform of the PDP did so as independent candidates, and independent candidacy was alien to Nigeria Constitution”.
The APC spokesperson emphasised that that the APC does not need a soothsayer to interprete the far-reaching legal implication of this judicial pronouncement.
Namang stated that the verdict captured the mood of the teeming citizenry of Plateau.
“Furthermore, our attention has just been drawn to a planned protest on Tuesday by some persons who do not mean well for the state.
“The aim, we are aware, is to cause mayhem and thus throw the state into confusion well ahead of impending verdicts of the Court of Appeal.
“We, therefore, call on security agencies to fish out and arrest the sponsors of the planned protest,” he added. (NAN)
