The Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in Nasarawa State, Francis Orogu, has said that the State Governor, Abdullahi Sule had a hand in the ordeal being faced by some detained protesters and PDP women....CONTINUE READING THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
The Nigeria Police Force, Nasarawa State command, had confirmed the arrest of no fewer than 30 protesters on Friday for protesting the outcome of the Supreme Court judgment which affirmed Governor Abdullahi Sule as winner of the March 18, 2023 governorship election in the state.
The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, David Ombugadu, had dragged Sule of the All Progressives Congress to court, challenging his 2023 election victory.
The Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal had on October 2 sacked the governor and declared Ombugadu as winner of the poll.
Unsatisfied with the judgment, Sule approached the Appeal where he was declared as the actual winner of the election.
This prompted Ombugadu to approach the Supreme Court for the final verdict on the matter, which also affirmed Governor Sule.
Speaking on the development on Friday, the state Police Public Relations Officer DSP Ramhan Nansel, said apart from the 38 suspects arrested by the command, 29 motorcycles were recovered by its personnel during the protests which took place in Lafia, the state capital.
He further explained that the protesters were arrested because they violated a peace agreement recently reached by stakeholders of the APC and PDP in the state ahead of the Supreme Court judgment.
At the resumption of hearing on the bail application on Monday, counsel to the defendants, Barr. Ayiwulu Baba Ayiwulu relied on points of law to support his plea for the court to tender justice with mercy by granting the defendants bail.
While the Counsel to the Commissioner of Police, Danjuma Allu, on his part argued that the complainant had seven days to reply to the bail application and urged the court to grant him a short date to reply in accordance to the provision of the law.
After listening to both counsels, the Chief Magistrate, Mohammad Abdullahi Lanze adjourned the court’s sitting to Thursday for the hearing of the application for the bail of the 38 suspects.
He also ordered the Commissioner of Police to produce the defendants in court on the said date for hearing of the bail application.
However, the PDP Chairman accused the State Governor, Abdullahi Sule of having hand in the ordeal being faced by the women, noting that they had held several prayer sessions and staged numerous peaceful protests against his earlier declaration as Governor by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Orogun called on the various Civil Society Organisations and non-governmental organisations in the state to rise up to the occasion and rescue the protesters from political vendetta.
“The governor of Nasarawa State, A.A Sule who was confirmed the governor by the verdict of the Supreme Court, has also chosen to use the power of the lower court to imprison the women for carrying out peaceful protests which is their constitutional right.
“The women have been conducting their prayers at the party secretariat since March last year, subjecting themselves to self-imprisonment by sleeping outside, what kind of imprisonment would somebody subject these women to that will be greater than what they have gone through for nine months?
“We had several malaria cases. At a point, we tried our best to feed them once in a day because the crowd was much. We could not have afforded anything more than that, and they had the determination to take care of themselves. They stood there for nine months in reaction to what they believed is the right thing.
“At this point, I want to make it clear that not all these women are members of the PDP. Some of them are even members of the ruling party, APC. They decided to do what they did (protests) because that is what they believe is right or what they believed should have happened.
“What we can do now is to appeal to the women to remain calm and ask other NGOs who have nothing to do with any political party to look into this matter as women are being oppressed, female rights are been abused and widows are being manhandled for political interest and for power being allocated by the Supreme Court,” Francis Orogu concluded.
Meanwhile, the Publicity Secretary of the state’s All Progressives Congress, Otaru Douglas in a statement dismissed the allegation by the PDP Chairman, adding that the Governor and leaders of the party had no hand in the ordeal of the suspected protesters…CONTINUE READING>>
