Group operating under the auspices of Plateau Youths Liberation Movement (PYLM) has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to look into the Appeal Court Judgement which nullified the election of Bar Caleb Mutfwang of the Peoples Democratic party PDP .
Our correspondent reports that the Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, had on Sunday nullified the election of Mr. Caleb Mutfwang of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the governor of Plateau State in the March 2023 general election, thus, setting aside the ruling of the election petitions tribunal, which had earlier affirmed Mutfwang’s election.
The court declared Dr. Yilwatda Nentawe of All Progressives Congress (APC) as the duly elected governor, and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the certificate of return it had given to Mutfwang, and issue it to Nentawe.
The appeal court held that PDP had no structure to nominate any candidate for the elections, having disobeyed an order of the court to repeat its congress.
Addressing journalist in Jos on Wednesday ,Mr Joshua Jephta, the acting Coordinator said the group is a collection of concern Plateau youths whose interest rest basically on liberating and moving Plateau forward.
They said ” We are a non-partisan, non-tribal and non-religious group with membership in all the 17 Local Government Areas of the state. Our aim is to promote the unity of the state.
” As a people with the responsibility of ensuring peace, virile and progressive society, we find it very expedient to speak out at this point in the annals of our political journey.”
In their words ” The state had in the last few months enjoyed relative peace and this is due to the concerted efforts of the state government and security agencies. ”
” But we are worried over the turn of events and threats flying all over the state due to the recent judgments of the Appeal Court on elections in the state.”
The group alleged that ” As we speak, security report reveals that the state is sitting on a cake of gun powder because of these Judgments and as concern Plateau citizens, we do not want our state to return to its dark days.”
“Over the years, Plateau had its fair share of security challenges and lost of lives and property due to electoral violence. We do not want a repeat of those ugly events.”
” This is why we are calling on President Bola Tinubu, to use his ‘Renewed Hope’ mantra, which simply means hope for every Nigerian irrespective of political inclination to address these concerns.”
” We want the president, being the father of all, irrespective of political party to wade into the matter to safe democracy and ensure rule of law prevails at all times.”
They added that ” We totally agree with the recent comment of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, where he said it is ”abnormal and totally unacceptable for a few persons called judges to overturn the decisions of millions of voters during elections”.”
” We equally agree with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, for saying that the ruling APC has turned the Nigerian judiciary into a ”cash and carry” one where politicians who don’t participate in primaries are named as candidates while actual winners of elections are sacked for “flimsy reasons”.
They group appealed to the National Judicial Council (NJC) and other critical stakeholders in the judicial system to intervene with a view of ensuring that the right thing is done.
” Democracy is being threatened, the court should not force leaders on the people who they did not elect. Unfortunately, this is the current situation in Plateau.”
Plateau is a miniature Nigeria, and we do not want anything to tamper with its sanctity. The judiciary must do the right thing being the last Hope of the common man.
They also said that ” We call on relevant agencies to investigate Hon. Yusuf Gagdi, the member representing Pankshin/Kanke/ kanam federal constituency for his inflammatory utterances that preceded the appeal court judgments.
The boosting of Gagdi simply suggest a deep seated compromise on the part of the judiciary with high possibility that money had exchanged hands to tilt the judgments in favour of the APC.
We wish to strongly advice Gagdi to concentrate on the business of law making which he was elected to do rather than playing the role of a political god-father.
We also call on Mr Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to President Tinubu to desist from uttering words that are not true.
The case of Zamfara and Plateau is not the same as he insinuated, hence his comparison on the two cases was baseless.
Mr Onanuga is not from Plateau, doesn’t live in Plateau and never lived in Plateau; he doesn’t understand the political intrigues going on in the state. We strongly advice him to concentrate on the job the president had given him instead of being a ”Meddlesome Interloper” in the case of Plateau.
As a seasoned journalist, we expect him to know that the case of Zamfara and Plateau are not the same. From our investigation, in Zamfara, the fight was between two APC groups – one led by former Gov. Yari and the other led by Sen. Marafa. The two groups both contested the party’s primaries. It means Marafa was constitutionally qualified to challenge Yari in Court.
But in Plateau, the APC challengers have been rightfully described by a tribunal judge as “meddlesome interlopers ” pognosing into the affairs of PDP, a party they aren’t members of.
They appealed to our politicians to learn to accept the verdict of the people during elections. They should also know that power comes from God and Plateau is one ,they added .
