Alleged Injustice To Plateau Voters: President, Appeal Court Should Quit – HURIWA

Civil Rights Advocacy Group on the aegis of Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), on Monday declared that the decision of the Supreme Court of Nigeria which validated the election of the governor of Plateau State, Mr Caleb Muftwang has exposed that the Court of Appeal willfully staged a judicial coup d’état against voters in Plateau State.

It accused the appellate court of unconstitutionally planting APC legislators to replace PDP legislators at both the National Assembly and State House of Assembly.

This was as it vowed that it would petition the National Judicial Council to force the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem to resign honourably or be sacked.

HURIWA said that if that is not done, it would not hesitate to mobilise the civil rights movements in Nigeria to take steps to compel the national hierarchy of the judiciary to do the needful in reforming the decadent Court of Appeal of Nigeria which has been exposed by the Supreme Court for misreading the extant statutes governing elections in the country which also questions the competence of that branch of the judicial until certain actions are adopted to cleanse that branch of the court system in Nigeria.

It also said that the well-grounded judicial verdict reinstating the New Nigerian People’s Party’s elected governor of Kano State back to his position by invalidating the illegality committed by the Court of Appeal and the Tribunal of first instance, saved Nigeria from witnessing some of the most callous and most brutal civil insurrection.

It specifically said that the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem under whose leadership such a groundswell of unconstitutional acts were committed willfully by Justices she appointed, should accept responsibility for the colossal illegality in Plateau state in particular and quit the stage for a fresh President of the Court to be appointed and sworn-in.

HURIWA also called on the former governor of the state, Simon Lalong and all the Plateau APC members illegally railroaded into the National Assembly and State House of Assembly by the Appeal court in a crooked manner, should resign or be recalled by Plateau State electorate so as to right the injustice since those victimised can’t go for redress at the Supreme Court.

The rights group said that Governor Muftwang’s victory at the March 18, 2023 poll was upheld by the State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal in Jos but the Court of Appeal overturned it declaring Nentawe Goshwe of the APC as the winner of the election.

HURIWA in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko noted that the Court of Appeal ruled erroneously but intentionally that the failure of the PDP to comply with the order of the Plateau State High Court in Jos directing it to conduct valid ward, local governments, and state congresses before nominating its candidates for the various elective posts was a breach of the law.

It further said; “The court, for the same reason, sacked many lawmakers elected on the platform of the PDP in the state. But, delivering the judgment of the Supreme Court on Friday, Justice Emmanuel Agim held that the APC and its candidate are not members of the PDP and cannot challenge the primary election of the PDP.

“He also held that the tribunal and Court of Appeal lacked jurisdiction to entertain the issue. Agim noted that the petition of the APC in the first place was an abuse of the court process and faulted the Court of Appeal for sacking the governor saying that the petition by the APC and its candidates are abuse of the court process.

“My worry is that a lot of people have suffered as a result of this,” Justice John Okoro said while agreeing with the lead judgment.

HURIWA citing historical evidence by a professor of law, Chidi Odinkalu, stated rightly that In Plateau State, all appeals went to a panel presided over by Justice Oluwayemisi Williams-Dawodu, who has been a Justice of Appeal since March 2014. She was joined by Justice Abdulaziz Waziri, who was appointed to the court in 2021, and Okon Abang whose term on the Court began only in October 2023.

“On 7 November, the Court of Appeal panel nullified the election of Senator Bali, claiming that “the PDP and its Senatorial candidate have no legal ground to participate in the election having failed to obey the judgment of a Plateau High Court that the party should conduct lawful elections for the purpose of having officers for Wards, Local Governments and State Council.

“In his place, the court returned Simon Lalong as the winner of the election in which he had been roundly defeated“.

HURIWA quoted Odinkalu as stating that Lalong was one beneficiary among many from a judicial hit-list methodically compiled by the Court of Appeal in Monica Dongban-Mensem’s home state, adding that by the time its demolition job was over, the Court had sacked two PDP Senators from the state and five members of the House of Representatives elected on the PDP ticket.

“In the 25-member state House of Assembly, the Court of Appeal removed 16 members elected on the platform of the PDP, handing their seats and control of the state parliament – with malice aforethought – to the APC.

“Such is the state of the judiciary in Nigeria at this time that the three-person panel whom Monica Dongban-Mensem sent to Plateau State could not have wrought that amount of destruction without her active consent, if not instruction,” it said.