The Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Gabriel Dewan, has said that he would only recognise eight members of the House.
Dewan, a member of the Young Peoples Party (YPP), was elected the Speaker after the Appeal Court sacked 16 PDP lawmakers.
The Appeal Court had sacked 16 members elected under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on the argument that the party had no structure as at the time they were nominated as candidates and, therefore, lacked the legitimacy to be sponsored by the party.
The Appeal Court had then asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw their Certificates of Return and issue them to the APC members, which directive the electoral body has obeyed.
But last Friday, the Supreme Court overruled the appellate court by saying that the sack of the 16 PDP members was unjustified.
Justice Emmanuel Agim had while reading the unanimous judgment of the five-man panel, allowed the appeal filed by Governor Caleb Mutfwang against his sack by the Court of Appeal.
Justice Agim who contended that the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate have no locus standi to have delved into the internal affairs of another political party, regretted that unfortunately some people had suffered from the unjustified judgment of the Appeal Court.
Justice John Okoro, in his own summation said:
“My worry is that a lot of people have suffered as a result of this.”
Dewan while speaking to newsmen in Jos said that the pronouncement of the Supreme Court, which is the highest court of the land, had cancelled the earlier position of the lower court, stressing that “as it stands now only eight are recognised as members in the assembly.”
Dewan said the 16 lawmakers who were affirmed by the Court of Appeal would not be recognised for now as apex court was emphatic that the judgment of the Appeal Court was faulty and an abuse of court processes, pointing out that the 16 PDP lawmakers who were earlier sacked had appealed for the determination of the Supreme Court judgment as well as now calling for their judgment to be upturned by the highest court of the land, including that of the National Assembly members.
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