Following the Appeal Court sacking of two PDP Senators and five House of Representatives members of Plateau State last week, a large group of Muslim youths and women have staged a protest against the Appeal Court Judgments, demanding an immediate review, describing the sacking of the Lawmakers as robbing state of their mandate and decision during the 2023 elections.
The Youths and women groups while speaking to journalists in a peaceful protest at Zololo Junction, Jos North Local Government of the State on Thursday said the judgement was a deliberate plan of the APC to forcefully take over the positions of PDP after they were outrightly rejected by the electorate at the 2023 polls.
It would be recalled that since the Appeal Court verdict, there has been massive protest across the state by Youths and Women demanding the review of the judgements by the Appeal Court.
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 PDP.
The Secretary of Hausa/Fulani PDP Forum, Abdulkarim Yaro called on the National Judicial Council, NJC to review the Appeal court judgments which he said hinged on a pre-election matter that the Appeal tribunal does not have the jurisdiction to entertain.
According to Yaro, “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 groups from Plateau who came out to speak against this injustice, we were to protest but the Police said no so as law-abiding citizens, we have no other option than to obey but we demand that the whole nation should look at Plateau. Why are we treated differently?” He lamented.
Women leader of the group, Lubabatu Ali called on critical stakeholders in the judiciary and Nigerians to raise against what they termed as injustice against the people of Plateau 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 saying, I am a member of the PDP and I participated in it. It happened in the presence of INEC, it happened in the presence of the people, why are people not sincere, who is targeting Plateau and for what reason?” She cries out.
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 as 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. These people were overwhelmingly voted for by the people of Plateau 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 voted for. The judiciary should do something about its sinking image.”
Hajia Ali added, “As women, we are not happy with what is happening. The PDP government is not illegal, we voted the Party and the People we voted into office are working. We call for fairness and equity, Plateau’s cases must be treated fairly by the Courts, we demand a review of all the cases from Plateau.”
The protest was however peaceful with security presence to forestall any breach of the peace.
