The 16 former lawmakers of the Plateau State House of Assembly on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that were sacked by the Court of Appeal yesterday stormed the Old Government House, the scheduled venue for the Assembly’s plenary.
Despite a Court of Appeal judgement nullifying their elections, which cited their party’s lack of structure as grounds for disqualification, the sacked PDP lawmakers had vowed to reclaim their seats.
They argued that the Supreme Court’s affirmation of Governor Caleb Mutfwang’s election invariably set aside the appellate court’s judgement and as such they remained authentic members of the house.
Daily Trust earlier reported that lawyers were of the opinion that since the Court of Appeal is the last court of arbitration for State and National Assembly elections, the sacked PDP lawmakers do not have the locus to approach the apex court to set aside the Appeal Court’s judgement and could therefore not benefit from Governor Mutfwang’s judgement.
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But on Tuesday, the sacked lawmakers, accompanied by their supporters insisted on entering the plenary venue. Although initially barred by police firing teargas into the sky, they were eventually granted access, to the venue’s premises, after the plenary had been concluded with the speaker and seven lawmakers whose seats were never subject of contest.
The 15 lawmakers under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the lawmaker under the platform of the Labour Party (LP) that were returned elected in place of the sacked PDP lawmakers by the appellate court, however, stayed away from the proceeding.
Addressing journalists after the plenary, Speaker Gabriel Daweng said, “For now, 32 members are claiming 16 seats of the house. I am not the interpreter of the law because we are lawmakers.
“I am in the receipt of the court process. So, as assembly, there is nothing we can say. As law-abiding citizens, we are awaiting the institution saddled with the responsibility of interpreting the law to do that. In due course, we will inform the public about what the court said. But for now, we have eight members of the House of Assembly.”
Ishaku Maren, spokesman of the 16 sacked PDP lawmakers, while giving their position on the development, said they are satisfied with the position of the speaker and would wait for the Assembly to make a decision.
Why our members stayed away from plenary – APC
Responding to the development, the APC said it had earlier asked all APC members-elect who were declared winners by the Court of Appeal to stay away from the venue of Tuesday’s plenary.
The party’s publicity secretary, Sylvanus Namang, told Daily Trust that the party had asked the lawmakers and their supporters to stay away from the venue of the plenary to avoid any possible clash during the plenary.
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