Follow Us on Google
From Jude Owuamanam, Jos
Civil Society Organisations in Plateau State have appealed to Governor Caleb Mutfwang to use his good offices to persuade the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Gabriel Dewan, to swear-in lawmakers elected under the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The 16 members were recently declared winners of the March 18, 2023 after the Court of Appeal sacked their counterparts from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The Court had held that the PDP lacked the structure to sponsor them for the election ection.
However buoyed by the victory of the Governor Caleb Mutfwang at the Supreme Court, the PDP members had urged the Appeal Court to review their cases since it’s the same structure that sponsored the governor.
This attempt suffered a defeat as the appellate court did not only refuse their request, but slammed a N128 million fine of them.
Addressing newsmen in Jos, the CSOs led by rights activist, Steve Aluko, said the third tier of government in Plateau is suffering a lot as a result of this stalemate.
He said that the people of the state have been denied of a robust legislature, which has not been able to enact enabling laws for the good governance of the state.
Akiko said, “It’s regrettable that we have boxed ourselves into this quagmire. It’s one’of the implications of the decay in the level of governance that we have seen in this country. Coming to Plateau, it’s equally regrettable that five months after the inauguration of the 10th democratic experiment, we have not had a steady flow of governance at the legislative arm.
“The implication is that the quality of representation will suffer and the quality of lawmaking will suffer. I think it’s high time we remind those in governance across party lines, across political interests that the utmost interest should be that of Plateau and not that of any Party or individual because at the end of the day, it’s the agenda of Plateau that will suffer. The people will not be adequately represented.
Whether you like it or not, this affects the executive, it affects the legislature and also the judiciary. The primary responsibility of representative is representation and when this is lacking in democracy, we can describe it as quasi democracy and not a democracy we can celebrate.”
Also speaking, another rights activist, David Barji, echoed Aluko’s sentiments and called on Governor Mutfwang to exhibit political maturity by impressing on the speaker to allow the APC members to contribute to qualitative governance, which he, the governor, is already spearheading.
