Sixteen members of the Plateau State House of Assembly, who were elected under the platform of the People’s Democratic Party ( PDP) and later sacked by the Court of Appeal over their illegal nomination for the 2023 elections by their political party, have vowed to resume legislative duties at the State Assembly complex on Tuesday.
The Plateau State governor, Caleb Mutfwang, who was earlier sacked by the Appeal Court on the same premise, later got a respite at the Supreme Court which ruled that the issue of nomination of candidates for election is an exclusive right of a political party and it should not be dabbled into by the courts.
Our correspondent also reports that the State House Assembly ends its Yuletide recess, which commenced in December last year, on Tuesday, January 23, 2024.
A former Majority Leader of the House, who represented Bokkos state constituency, Hon. Ishaku Maren, made the disclosure on behalf of 15 other former lawmakers, while addressing journalists in Jos on Monday.
Maren, who was flanked by the 15 sacked legislators, said while the Assembly was on recess, there were two judgements that were passed regarding the status of the State House of Assembly members.
He said the first judgement was given by the Court of Appeal.
“They said one can not put something on nothing. That PDP on the Plateau has no structure, adding that it was on that basis and premise that they sacked all the 16 PDP legislators,” he stated.
According to Maren, when they were on recess, a superior court – the Supreme Court of Nigeria – gave her own verdict regarding the same issue, stressing that the judgement of the apex Court said the case that was brought before the Court of Appeal in its entirety was fraudulent because the Court of Appeal lacks the jurisdiction to entertain the entire matter and by that it shows that they were still referring to their own submission that one can not build something on nothing.
Maren further said the Supreme Court also argued that it was even a wrong destination that such a case will be taken to and by implications it shows that the verdict of the Court of Appeal was a nullity, hence they (the affected lawmakers) were disregarding the judgement in its entirety.
“But to our greatest dismay, the so-called Court of Appeal legislators are deceiving themselves that they are coming to the House of Assembly complex tomorrow (Tuesday) to resume legislative duties.
“We are confident to tell the general public that we are product of democracy. We are validly elected by the majority of votes that were cast in our various constituencies,” Maren reiterated.
He also stressed that, “Our constituents are ready to accompany us to tomorrow’s sitting because they voted us to represent them at the State House of Assembly. They are not ready to compromise, that is why they are ready to accompany us up to the State Assembly complex tomorrow for our sitting.
“I want to state here clearly that even in law, it is said that where there is injuries, there will certainly be a remedy. To the Court of Appeal members, they thought they can manouver their way and find themselves into the State House of Assembly by fire or by force, but let me be categorical here again to let Nigerians know that it is only in this part of the country that people lose their sense of morality and integrity.”
