By Chimaobi Afiauwa, Abuja
Protests rocked Jos, the capital of Plateau State, on Wednesday in response to a Court of Appeal ruling that unseated four federal lawmakers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the House of Representatives and Senate.
The ruling has sparked wide outrage and condemnation in the North Central state as angry protesters took to the streets, blocking major roads in Jos to voice their discontent with the appellate court’s decision, which nullified the victories of the lawmakers based on pre-election matters.
According to our correspondent, the demonstrations took place at prominent locations in Jos, including Old Airport Junction, Maraban Jos, and other key intersections.
Among the affected federal lawmakers, three were members of the House of Representatives, while one was in the Senate.
The PDP House of Representatives members that were ousted from the Green Chamber over what the court described as invalid nominations by their party, were Peter Gyendeng representing Barkin-Ladi/Riyom Federal Constituency; Musa Bagos representing Jos South/Jos East Federal Constituency and a fifth-term lawmaker, Beni Lar, who represented Langtang North/Langtang South Federal Constituency.
Recall that as previously reported by MUK TV, another Appeal Court in Abuja also affirmed the tribunal’s verdict on Tuesday, declaring the Minister of Labour, Simon Lalong, the legitimate winner of the Plateau South Senatorial seat.
Lalong’s victory, which unseated PDP’s Napoleon Bali, who had been declared the winner by INEC, brought the number of the party’s federal lawmakers from Plateau sacked by the appellate court to four.
In Bali’s case, although he had scored 148,844 votes, with Lalong coming in second with 91,674 votes, the court ruled that he did not have a valid right to participate in the election, thereby rendering his votes in the general election on February 25, 2023, void.
Justice Williams-Dawodu while delivering the judgment, maintained that PDP was in error for not complying with standing orders requiring a new congress to be conducted in the state.
He stressed that invalidly nominated candidates cannot attract lawful votes, leading to the affirmation of the tribunal’s earlier judgment.
