PDP Faults  Election Judgements, Foresees Election Apathy With Increasing Contradictory Judgements

By Ayodele Oni

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has bemoaned contradictory court judgements on election petitions, expressing fear that this will increase voter apathy in Nigeria.

PDP Chairman in Plateau, Chris Hassan who spoke to  the News Agency on Sunday in Jos was reacting to the recent judgments of the appeal court that nullified the election of Gov. Caleb Mutfwang and some members of the State and National Assembly from Plateau.

The appellate court had cited lack of valid structure in the PDP as grounds for its judgments.

But Hassan faulted the judgments and described them as a ”miscarriage of justice”, insisting that the judges relied on technicalities rather than facts.

According to him,  the contradictory judgments would reduce the participation of most Nigerians in the electoral process.

”Everybody knows that some of the recent judgments of the appeal court on elections were not base on facts but technicalities; the case of Plateau, Kano, Nasarawa state, among others are clear examples.

”What this implies is that the judiciary is not only destroying our democracy, but these judgments will increase voter apathy in future.

”In the case of Plateau for instance, Governor Caleb Mutfwang overwhelmingly won his election with 525,299 votes to defeat Dr Nentawe Yilwatda of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who polled 481,370 votes.

”This simply means that majority of Plateau people actually want Mutfwang as their governor.

”So, if our judiciary continue like the it is going, most Nigerians will not be motivated to participate in future elections because they know that their votes will not count.”

The chairman also faulted the claim of the appellate court that PDP lacked valid structure, insisting that his party had complied with the directive of the state High Court in Jos.

He described PDP as an organized party from inception, adding that it promotes internal democracy and abide by the rule of law.