The Centre for the vulnerable and the underprivileged, Centrep, has condemned calls by some respected jurists in the country for the Supreme Court to reverse its verdict on Zamfara elections.
The Executive Director of Centrep, Oghenejabor Ikimi, in a press statement on Saturday in Warri, described the call as “delusional”.
The Warri-based lawyer said the Zamfara verdict was a victory over impunity and lawlessness that had characterised party politics in the nation’s polity, since the advent of the 4th Republic.
Recall that the Supreme Court had on May 24, nullified all the All Progressives Congress, APC, votes in the 2019 general elections in Zamfara on the ground that the party had no valid candidates in the elections in the state.
The five-member panel, led by Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Tanko Mohammed, in unanimous judgement, held that the APC failed to conduct primaries in accordance with the party’s rules.
Consequently, the court declared the first runners-up in the general elections in Zamfara as winners of all the elected positions which incidentally favoured the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidates in the State.
“The Zamfara verdict is a victory over impunity, godfather-ism and lawlessness that had characterised party politics in our polity since the advent of our 4th Republic.
” For a respected jurist and others to call for a reversal of the verdict, is no doubt an invitation to chaos, anarchy and lawlessness in our polity,” he said.
Mr Ikimi said the verdict of the apex court was a landmark judgment that had helped to further deepen the nation’s democracy.
NAN
