Supreme Court ruling: Plateau Assembly in disarray as Speaker promises to not recognise 16 APC members

The fate of 16 members of the Plateau State House of Assembly is now hanging in the balance as the Speaker, Gabriel Dewan, has said that he would only recognise eight members of the House.

Dewan, the only member of the Young Peoples Party (YPP), was elected the Speaker in the wake of the sack of 16 PDP lawmakers by the court, reports Sunday Sun.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had sixteen members elected under its banner when the Appeal Court dismissed them, citing the party’s lack of organisation at the time of their nomination and their ineligibility as party sponsors.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was requested by the court to revoke its Certificates of Return and issue them to APC members, as instructed by the electoral body.

But the Supreme Court’s ruling from last Friday appears to have sparked a new political crisis in the state.

The court declared that the dismissal of the 16 PDP members was not warranted, overturning the decision made by the appellate court.

When Justice Emmanuel Agim read the five-member panel’s unanimous decision, he granted Governor Caleb Mutfwang’s appeal against the Court of Appeal’s dismissal of him.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, according to Justice Agim, had no right or jurisdiction to meddle in the internal affairs of another political party.

He regretted that, regrettably, some people had been harmed by the Appeal Court’s erroneous ruling.

Justice John Okoro, in his own summation said: “My worry is that a lot of people have suffered as a result of this.”

The judgment appeared to have been emboldened the Speaker to state that he does not recognise the APC members who benefitted from the judgment

Dewan 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.”

He said that as Speaker that he is a leader for all irrespective of political party as he would carry everybody along in his leadership despite coming from the opposition and a minority party, the YPP.

According to him, 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.