Seriki Adinoyi in Jos
Hundreds of youths and women from the Muslim community in Plateau State yesterday joined the protests over the ‘inconsistent’ judgements of the Court of Appeal in the state, calling for a review of the judgements.
The protest came on the heels of the massive protests that brought together youths from the 17 local government areas of the state, who barricaded major streets in Jos from Old Airport Junction to Mararaba Jama’a roundabouts.
The Court of Appeal, in recent judgements, sacked two senators and four Members of the House of Representatives, all of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.
The youths unanimously described the development as an act of injustice and an attempt to rob the state of the mandate the people gave to the party.
The Secretary of Hausa/Fulani PDP Forum, Mallam Abdulkarim Yaro called on the National Judicial Council (NJC) to review the Appellate court judgments which hinged on a pre-election matter that the Appeal tribunal does not have the jurisdiction to entertain.
Yaro said: “We got up to express our displeasure with the recent judgments by the Appeal Court because we know we have been robbed of our mandate. In other states, this issue has been taken as a pre-election matter, but why is the case of Plateau different?
“We from the Muslim community, align our voice with all the other groups in the state that have spoken against the injustice. We wanted to protest on the streets, but the police said no. So as law-abiding citizens, we have no other option than to obey but we demand justice. Why are we treated differently?”
Women leader of the group, Lubabatu Ali called on critical stakeholders in the judiciary and Nigerians to rise against what she described as injustice against the people of the state.
She said: “We know this has been a pre-election issue, we want justice. We all came out massively and supported the PDP and the party won with a difference of 40,000; to 50,000. So much resources and energy have been expended.
“This congress they are talking about, I am a member of the PDP and I participated in it. It happened in the presence of INEC, in the presence of the people, why are people not sincere, who is targeting Plateau, and for what reason?”
One of the protesters, Iliya James said: “How can the mandate of someone who scored over 95,000 votes in an election be nullified by the court and the person who scored about 35,000 votes be declared the winner? This is a miscarriage of justice.
“This is banditry, and we are here to express our dissatisfaction with the action of the Court of Appeal. The people of Plateau overwhelmingly voted for these people and the action of the court is trying to kill democracy using technicalities and dampening the morale of voters.
“We call on the NJC to review these judgments to restore these mandates to the original winners; those that the masses actually voted for. The judiciary should do something about its sinking image.”
