By Polycarp Auta
)The National Youths Movement (NYM), of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has called on the National Judicial Council (NJC), to immediately review the recent Court of Appeal judgments that sacked some members of the National Assembly from Plateau.
The group made the call during a peaceful protest on Friday in Jos.
Chairperson of the movement, Miss Sele Prama, said that the protest was to express the group’s dissatisfaction with the appeal court’s judgments.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, had sacked two senators and four members of the House of Representatives from the state.
The appellate court cited lack of structure in the PDP, the platform on which the lawmakers ran for the offices.
Prama, who faulted the judgments, argued that the call for the review became necessary because the grounds used by the appellate court to sack the lawmakers were “purely pre-election matters”.
She further explained that the judgments had also robbed Plateau people of quality representation at the national level.
“We are here today first as Plateau citizens and members of the PDP National Youth Movement, to express our displeasure with the recent judgments of the appeal court that sacked some of our lawmakers
“We view it as an injustice meted on our party, and it has also denied Plateau people quality representation at the national level.
“It is sad that the judiciary, which is the last hope of the common man, has allowed the politicians to use it as mere tool to achieve their selfish desires.
“So, we have come out, not to be violent, but to seek redress and to specifically call on the NJC to take more serious look at these judgments and review them,” Prama stated.
She also called on the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, to also wade into the matter being a daughter of the state.
Also speaking, Mr Dang Choji, a PDP official in Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau, insisted that the PDP had a valid structure.
Choji insisted that the party had duly complied with directives of the court, and repeated its congress after the first one, alleging that the recent appeal court judgments were a mere conspiracy to subvert the will of the people.
“I participated in the first and the repeated congress of our party; the whole world should know that PDP repeated its congresses as directed by the court.
“The PDP constitution provides that two-third majority of delegates can participate in a congress and that is what happened.
“Over 2,000 delegates participated in the repeated congress, which is more than two-third of the total number. Only about 120 didn’t participate.
“So, I see a serious conspiracy against the collective will of the people by few individuals, but we will not accept this injustice,” Choji maintained.
He insisted that the youths would continue to occupy major streets in the state to demand for justice from the NJC and all relevant stakeholders.
Also speaking, Mr Victor Meshach, a member of NYM, called on President Bola Tinubu to wade into the matter.
“If we allow politics to control the dictates of the law, there will arise injustice in the nation.
“Unfortunately, that is our current situation in Plateau. The law is clear, but the basis used by the appellate court to deliver these judgments is ambiguous
“In other states, issues around candidates’ emergence were treated as pre-election matters and dismissed. The case of Plateau should not be different.
“And so we are calling on the President to use his ‘Renewed Hope’ mantra, which simply means hope for every Nigerian, irrespective of political inclination, to address our concerns,” Meshach appealed.
NAN reports that youths from Plateau’s 17 Local Governments, had 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)
