Plateau Assembly crisis: LP denies knowledge of injunction

The Labour Party in Plateau State has refuted claims that a court injunction from a suit filed by 12 candidates of the state house of assembly under its umbrella is delaying the swearing-in of new members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and LP, as declared by the court.

The denial comes in response to statements made by the special adviser to the state governor on strategic communication, Timothy Golu, who claimed in an interview with the Daily Trust on March 19 that, days before the scheduled swearing-in of new house members, two injunctions were served on the Speaker, including one by LP candidates who were contesting for the same House of Assembly seats.

However, the LP chairman in the state, Grace Zanfara, refuted the claim made by the governor’s aide, stating that there was no court injunction from their party directed at the Speaker.

Mrs. Zanfara emphasized that any decision taken by the party must be communicated to her as the chairman, but no such decision regarding a court injunction was ever discussed or made by the party or its members.

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She stated, “I am not aware of any court injunction. If there was such an injunction, it would have come to my attention as the LP chairman. How can our party go to court when one of those to be sworn in is our member? This is not possible. We, as a party, are not pleased with the delay in swearing them in. We are affected by the speaker’s decision. In fact, we did not go to court. The claim doesn’t make any sense.”

The chairman urged the speaker of the house, Gabriel Dewan, to promptly swear in the new members, noting that since the court had declared them winners and they had received their certificates of return, the speaker should adhere to the rule of law and respect the court’s decision by swearing them in.

Efforts to obtain a response from Timothy Golu regarding the submission of the state LP chairman were unsuccessful, as calls and an SMS from our correspondent were unanswered as of the time of this report.