“No Gree Syndrome”: Shocking as Sacked Plateau PDP Lawmakers Vows to Resume…details

The sacked Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Lawmakers in Plateau state has vowed to resume his post today Tuesday as the Plateau State House of Assembly resumes plenary today. The 16 lawmakers elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party had earlier said they would resume their legislative duties despite their sacking by the Court of Appeal.

Even after the All Progressives Congress said the lawmakers remained sacked and their plan to resume was an ‘invitation to anarchy and a threat to democracy.

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja had in November sacked all the 16 members of the state House of Assembly elected on the platform of the PDP on the grounds that the party had no structure to nominate them as candidates.

During a press conference in Jos, on Monday, the 16 lawmakers, led by a former Majority Leader, Yobo Ishaku, said since the Supreme Court, which upheld the election of Governor Caleb Mutfwang on the same issue had ruled that the PDP had a valid structure to nominate them as candidates, the verdict of the Court of Appeal sacking them as lawmakers had become a nullity.

Ishaku, who represented Bokkos state constituency, said, “Our recess ends today (Monday) and we want to inform the public that we the PDP family are in high spirits and are willing to go back to our legislative duties willingly given to us by our various constituencies. So, we are all ready to resume work tomorrow (Tuesday).”

They however, explained the rationale behind their decision to resume plenary, Ishaku said, “While we were on recess, there were two judgments passed regarding the Plateau State House of Assembly. The first one was the one given by the Court of Appeal, of which the Justices said one could not put something on nothing; PDP on the Plateau had no structure and it was on that basis and premise that they sacked all the 16 PDP House of Assembly members.

“And while we were still on recess, the Supreme Court gave its verdict regarding the same issue and in the judgment, the Supreme Court said the case that was brought before the Court of Appeal was fraudulent and that the court even lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the matter in the first place. And by that, it shows that referring to their submission, you cannot build something on nothing. By implication, the verdict of the Court of Appeal is a nullity and we are disregarding that judgment in its entirety.”

Ishaku, who insisted that they were products of democracy who were validly elected by their various constituents also, said, “Our constituents are ready and willing to accompany us to our sitting tomorrow because they voted for us and they are not ready to compromise that.”

The PDP lawmakers called on President Bola Tinubu as well as the heads of the Nigeria judiciary to sanction the President of the Court of Appeal under whose watch they were sacked while the APC in the state described the planned resumption of the sacked PDP lawmakers as an invitation to anarchy and a  threat to democracy.

(Punch)