The APC in Plateau State has read with great dismay a fabricated piece trending on the social media which is obviously part of the ongoing assassination of the character of Appeal Court Judges handling the Gubernatorial appeal which is awaiting ruling soon.
Statement made available to this medium and was signed by Hon. Sylvanus Namang,
APC State Publicity Secretary stated that in the piece by one Jackson Ude, who is, no doubt, one of the hired writers and willing tools by the Plateau State Government which has shifted base to Abuja for its destructive misadventure against the judiciary, he has alleged that the APC-led Federal Government is doing everything possible to remove the Plateau state Governor from office.
According to the author, the former Governor of Plateau State and Minister of Labour and Employment, HE Rt. Hon.Simon Bako Lalong was given $5 Million to share to the Plateau State Gubernatorial Appeal Judges “to sack Governor Caleb Mutfwang of PDP and declare Dr Nentawe Yilwatda of the APC as the winner”. This is not only a fabrication but is also an allegation that is libelous to say the least.
He simply named the Judges as Dawudu, Akam and Waziri which is incorrect in the first place as the names of the celebrated jurists handling the Plateau and other cases for the North Central Zone of the country is in the public domain.
The author has dragged the names of eminent personalities and appointees of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu namely, HE Rt. Hon.Femi Gbajabiamila, COS and Nuhu Ribadu, NSA into their hallucinations.
He also claimed that these well-respected and celebrated personalities in governance had after the ongoing Conference of Judges yesterday, 16th November, 2023 mandated the Minister of Labour and Employment who himself has been so terribly vilified and defamed over the tribunal judgements, to fly to Lagos in a private jet and deliver the said amount to Justice Waziri who is on the panel at Marriott Hotel in Lagos!
The APC would have ignored this as a concoction meant for the trash can except for the need to restate our unflinching support for the sanctity of the judiciary and respect for constituted authorities in the land.
This clearly sponsored script by the embattled PDP-ed Government, has with reckless abandon completely thrown caution and decorum to the winds.
We advise the Governor to, as a Lawyer of three decades standing, know that the ceaseless mudslinging against the Judiciary is not in his interest.
It is indeed heart-warming that a group of 500 Lawyers under the aegis of Lawyers of Conscience led by Barrister Okpe Sylvanus Esq has staged a solidarity march in support of the decisions of the Court of Appeal in the Plateau State cases. Coming from a group of learned and knowledgeable Lawyers out to defend the sanctity of the rule of law, this solidarity march is a further affirmation of the integrity of the Judiciary as an impartial umpire and hallowed temple of Justice.
Dragging the names of the Chief of Staff to the President and the National Security Adviser into an ordinarily Plateau issue and a matter that he knows has to do with the LACK OF STRUCTURE by the Plateau State PDP and its stubborn disrespect for 22 judgements by Courts at all levels on the issue is as unfortunate as it is self-destructive.
Accusing these key officials of the President, invariably amounts to indicting Mr. President himself. If not we challenge the sponsored author to tell Nigerians who released the alleged sum.
Plateau people are greatly worried over the show of shame and the desperate demarketing of the state over the Court of Appeal Judgements which have, due to lack of internal democracy in the PDP is being swept out of power the same way it happened in Zamfara in 2019.
The tonnes of finances that have been ferried to Abuja ostensibly to make the Judges change their minds is a futile exercise as they do not operate at the whims and caprices of any party as the true adjucators and interpreters of of our laws.
These futile exercises should stop forthwith as what is happening is a build-up to anarchy and explosion on the Plateau which the governor needs to exercise great caution.
He should humble himself and prepare his mind towards toeing the patriotic steps of the Governor of Kano State, Alhaji Kabir Yusuf whose sack by the tribunal was affirmed by the Court of Appeal today but called for calm and peace in the commercial nerve centre of the North.
He should refrain from the double speak of condemning bad behaviour of groups and individuals who are sponsored to denigrate the judiciary each time members of the public react to the contrary.
It is laughable and an irony the familiar sing song by the embattled governor blaming the APC as the being behind these propaganda.The APC cannot for whatever reason descend as low and desperate as they are but we remain focused on pursuing our cases at the Courts which we firmly believe in.
Governments will come and go but Plateau state would remain as a component of the Nigerian federation.
This is the APC’s sincere admonition to Governor Caleb Mutfwang.
