By Marie-Therese Nanlong

August and September 2023 were interesting months in Plateau State. In those months, the Governorship, National/State Assembly elections tribunal delivered judgments which stirred up controversies and made citizens especially politicians, political parties and their supporters pitch tents as it favoured their desires.

At the centre of the controversies was the fact that the two National Assembly Election Petition Tribunals contradicted themselves in their judgments.

One of the tribunals is led by Justice William Olamide and the other by Justice Mohammed Tukur. The two panels who sat in the same building appeared to walk different paths with the Justice Olamide led panel sticking its ground on the precedent set by the Supreme Court that the opposition party cannot question the nomination of candidates by another party.

Justice Tukur’s panel on the other hand readily entertained petitions raised by the All Progressives Congress, APC on the nomination of PDP candidates and used it to annul the election of many elected PDP political office holders.

 The contradictory judgments from the different tribunal judges did however set citizens against one another, many discussions in the public space have led to heated arguments in favour of and in criticism of the tribunal outcomes.

 The controversy deepened in the last week following the Appeal court judgments for the Plateau North Senatorial zone and the Bassa/Jos North federal constituency which confused citizens on which political party would or would not participate in the repeated election set to be conducted in 90 days. 

 Citizens wondered why the judgments based on similar grounds had different outcomes and many concluded that there may be sinister plans to truncate the fragile peace in the State. The PDP stated as much saying it was a “deliberate perversion of justice and conspiracy against the PDP and its candidates.”

 As Hon. Justice Mohammed Tukur, Hon. Justice Omaka Elewa and Hon. Justice O. A Adetujoye of Panel One sacked candidates of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP,  Justice William Rotimi led Panel Two (2) and his team dismissed the petitions of the candidates of the All Progressives Congress, APC and asked the Party not to poke its nose into another political party’s affairs.

 Reacting to the controversy, the State Chairman of the PDP, Chris Hassan said the judgements which were against his Party did not reflect the position of the law while the State Publicity Secretary of the APC, Sylvanus Namang hailed those that favoured his Party.

 Hassan said, “… The decision of the tribunal on this matter utterly falls far short of expectation, we refuse to accept it because it is bereft of substantial justice and a diversion of the undiluted will and choices of the Plateau people in the light of the consolidated judgements recently delivered by the Presidential Election Petition Court in the Presidential Petition which is not far from the petitions here at the Tribunal.

 “The PDP had since complied with the judgment of Justice S P Gang through a repeat congress of September 2021 which was dutifully monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC ) as required by law.

This same congress was affirmed by the Federal High Court Jos in a judgment delivered by Hon Justice D. V . Agishi in the case of one Augustine Timkuk vs PDP validating the State Executive of the Party as duly elected.

 “This same judgment was also unanimously affirmed by the Court of Appeal Jos in favour of the PDP by Hon TY Hassan, Hon Justice I. A.  Andenyangtso and Hon Justice O O Goodluck delivered on 11th October 2023. The fact remains that PDP has a valid and solid structure through which its mandate was given… “

 Namang noted the judgments that favoured them were “resounding verdicts. The APC has covered substantial ground in recovering our mandate.”

 However, the Forum of Former Youth Leaders (Veterans) in Plateau State expressed worries over the contradictory judgments saying the situation is tantamount to “sowing seed of discord.”

 The Forum through its Chairman, Yakubu Itse, said, “While we respect the sanctity of the Nigerian Judiciary, we nevertheless are perturbed about this recent judicial debacle that is capable of setting the State in a needless strife. This development is troubling to us… Legal technicalities and intelligence should not be used to nullify the victory of Plateau duly elected leaders.”

Another group, Peace and Good Governance Advocates, PEGGA while also reacting to the developments cautioned the judiciary not to allow the evolving peace on the plateau to be consumed through the actions of a few errant officers and their political collaborators.

 The group in a statement issued by its national coordinator, Mani Immam warned that the contradictory and sometimes conflicting judgments being issued by the election petition tribunals could boomerang into a popular uprising.

 Alleging that there is a limit to which the populace can endure electoral manipulations, PEGGA in the statement tasked the National Judicial Council, NJC to put special focus on the Plateau and avoid the state and the country unnecessary tension on account of contradictory and conflicting judgments dispensed to erode the popular mandate of the people.

 With the conflicting tribunal judgments now over, citizens appeal to the Appeal Court to be diligent in giving judgment in the remaining cases and ensure that the issues are assessed based on their merits not on any other ground.