NKRUMAH BANKONG-OBI/LAFIA
The Coalition For PDP Youths In Nasarawa State says the Nasarawa State politics has assumed a dangerous dimension which portends danger for the State and its developmental objectives. The group made this claim at a press briefing on Thursday at the Nigerian Union of Journalist State Council secretariat in Lafia.
Daniel Igbo who led the team, said they were out to caution “the general public, especially members of our dear Party, the main opposiitin Peoples Democratic party, PDP in the State to be wary of their recklessness, sentimental and threatening remarks such as ‘they are non-indigenes, ‘they are from Borno’, ‘they have a religious agenda’ etc, that has already pitched the Nasarawa State people against themselves.
Igbo blamed religious leaders for their inciting stateemts. He called on the Party faithful to call a spade by its name and end the current trajectory of religious and tribal sentiments, to save Nasarawa from failing to adhere to the global understanding and practice of democracy.
The youth leader who shocked the reporters by his glaring support for the governing All Progressives Congress, APC and the State governor, Abdullahi Sule, an engineer, alluded to Governor Sule’s recement comments on the purported deployment of religion to sack him from office. “Engineer Abdullahi Sule as a result of the foregoing has also raised an alarm, telling the world how he is being threatened to be removed from using religious sentiments.
He cited the judgement of the tribunal as one of the examples among others. This trend of religious and tribal dichotomy shows that we still have a moral weakness,” he noted.
He added that his group believes that the Justcies who heard the PDP’s case against governor Sule relied on sentiment rather than the precepts of the law to dispense justice. “Most worrisome is that after taking a careful look at the ruling by the tribunal, we realised that merit was compromised for religious sentiments. If not, where on earth will you justify such shambolic ruling where out of three judges, the two Christian judges ruled in favour of their Christian brother and the candidate of the PDP, Hon, David Emmanuel Ombugadu while the remaining on muslim judge ruled in favour of his muslim brother and candidate of the APC, Engr, Abdullahi Sule? This is unfortunate and condemnable, he said.
The group stated that they prioritize the peaceful coexistence of the people of the State over Party affiliations and interests. They therefore asked religious, political and tribal leaders to refrain from making inflammatory comments on the matter. They equally asked the appellate court to properly “review the tribunal judgment, devoid of religious colouration or any other sentiments witnessed by the lower court and set aside its judgment.”
The group further charged the security agencies and the traditional rulers to live upo to the billing of their offices by nibbing the effects of provocative statements from different quarters.
Responding swiftly to the briefing, the Youth leader of the PDP in Nasarawa State, Muhammed Sani dissociatd the Party from Daniel igbo and his group. He alleged that their effort was bankrolled by the officials of the All Progressives Coingress in the State. Sani said “we want to make it clear that the PDP in Nasarawa Sttae fully supports the tribunal’s verdict that resulted in the removal of Governor Abdullahi Sule. The facts and merits of the case are indisputable and we maintain our unwavering confidence in the integrity of the Tribunal’s decision. The PDP will never condemn itself or seek to detract from from a ruling that upholds justice and the rule of law.
It will be recalled that the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal for Nasarawa state, had on 2 October, 2023 sacked the incumbent, Sule as the governor of Nasarawa State. The majority judgment of 2:1 mandated the Independent National Electoral Commission to retrieve the certificate of Return from him and hand same to David Ombugadu of the peoples Demcractic Party. Ombugadu had challenged the outcome of the 18 March gubernatorial polls, alleging substantial non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act.
Pix 1: A cross section of the PDP at the press conference
Pix2: Gov. Abdullahi Sule