Reps minority caucus demands sanctions against Appeal Court Justices over removal of Plateau lawmakers

The Minority Caucus in the House of Representatives has demanded sanction of appeal court justices over the removal of Plateau lawmakers.

Rep. Chinda Kingsley, the Minority Leader, House of Reps, said this in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja.

He said the justices who handled the case should be reprimanded to serve as deterrent to other judges who might want to toe such path in future.

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja had, in November 2023, sacked all 16 members of PDP in the Plateau State House of Assembly for pre-election matters.

This bordered on alleged disobedience of court order and lack of political structure.

Before then, the appeal court had sacked four PDP members of the House of Representatives from the state and two senators.

Chinda also congratulated opposition parties on the judgement of the Supreme Court that reinstated and upheld the victory of opposition governors whose victories were upheld by the appeal court.

He named the governors to include Dr. Alex Otti of Abia, Pastor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom, Sen. Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State, Alhaji Abba Yusuf of Kano State.

Others include Mr Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau State and Mr Lawal Daudu of Zamfara State.

Kingsley said, “We applaud the Supreme Court Justices for ensuring that the sanctity of the votes of the people of these states was not compromised.

” These decisions have renewed the faith of the Nigerians in the judiciary as it has demonstrated that it is the last hope of the common man.”

He said the victories resonated not only with the opposition parties but also with the citizens of those states who voted massively for the PDP, Labour Party and the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP).

He said it was imperative to refer to the decisions of the Court of Appeal in respect of State Houses of Assembly and National Assembly elections in Plateau that sacked several PDP legislators on questionable grounds.

He added that those same grounds were used by the Supreme Court to set aside the judgments.

He said although the decisions could not be appealed against because they occasioned grave miscarriage of justice, he said the justices who handed them down should be reprimanded to serve as a deterrent to other judges who might want to toe this path in future.

Chinda said the caucus commended the governors of the ruling party who were returned and prayed that they justify the confidence reposed on them by placing the country above self.