Dons Eze
FRESH CONTROVERSY OVER 13 VACANT PLATEAU ASSEMBLY SEATS
As confusion continues to trail 16 vacant seats in the Plateau State House of Assembly, the 13 candidates of the Labour Party (LP) assembly election have vowed to press on for the enforcement of the court judgments they secured against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
The candidates had prior to the February 2023 election, the candidates had secured a court judgment that the commission should include their names and party logo on the ballot papers which were omitted from the list of candidates for the election.
Contrary to the judgment, INEC went ahead to conduct the election without implementing the judgement.
Speaking, spokesman for the aggrieved LP candidates, Honourable Henry Yunkwap of the Shendam constituency, explained that the INEC did not allow them to participate in the election, despite court orders..
According to him, there are two subsisting judgments that the INEC has refused to comply with until the candidates finally got an injunction stopping the Speaker of the State House of Assembly from swearing in either the All Progressives Congress (APC) or the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) laying claim to the seats.
“We feel surprised, which is why we are dragging the matter with the INEC. The commission didn’t do well for us, despite a court order. It is either the INEC conducts another election or faces contempt of court charge.
“We want justice and fairness to be done. The action is against democracy. We are appealing for justice to be done to the 13 constituencies of the Labour Party that were disenfranchised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Already, we have two judgments against the commission.”
Meanwhile, the APC has threatened to take a legal action against Governor Caleb Muftwang and the Speaker, Plateau State House of Assembly for their alleged refusal to swear in the 16 APC lawmakers affirmed by the Court of Appeal.The party, in a statement, stated that it would no longer tolerate the deliberate ploy to continue to frustrate its members from being sworn.
