PDP governors: We believe s’court will do justice in Zamfara, Plateau guber disputes

Governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) say they believe that the supreme court will “do justice” in the cases they recorded “setbacks”. 

The governors’ position is contained in a communique issued on Thursday at the end of their meeting in Abuja.

The governors said they deliberated on “various issues of interest and concern to the forum” and also reviewed the recent judgments of the court of appeal on various states’ gubernatorial petitions.

“As a Forum, we once again re-state our overall confidence in the judiciary to do justice,” the communique signed by Bala Mohammed, chairman of the forum, reads.

“We believe that the Supreme Court will do justice in the cases where we recorded temporary setbacks like Zamfara and Plateau States.”

On November 16, the court of appeal sitting in Abuja nullified the election of Dauda Lawal of the PDP in Zamfara.

The appellant court declared the Zamfara governorship poll inconclusive and ordered INEC to hold a fresh election in three LGAs — Maradun, Birnin-Magaji and Bukyun.

The PDP also suffered a similar fate in Plateau where the appeal court sacked Mutfwang Manasseh as governor on the grounds that he was not validly sponsored by the party.

The governors commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for promising to review reports of irregularities in the off-cycle elections in Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo.

“We support the decision of INEC to investigate the allegation of the existence of pre-filled result sheets even before elections started in some places to ensure the confidence of the people in the electoral process,” the forum said.

On the economy, the governors asked the federal government to prioritise the introduction of a new revenue allocation formula that “gives more money to states and local governments to enable them meet their increased responsibilities”.