By Daniel Tyokua
The Concerned Youths for Good Governance and Justice has urged the National Judicial Commission, Police, Nigeria Bar Association and other strategic stakeholders to wade into a recent tribunal judgement delivered against the present chairman, Abuja Municipal Area council, Christopher Maikakalangu.
Briefing journalists on Monday, after submitting a petition to NJC in Abuja, coordinator of the group, Yunusa Ahmadu described the judgement that pronounced the candidate of APC as winner of the last February election as ‘injustice’ and miscarriage of justice.
He explained that the current chairman of AMAC, Maikakalangu of the Peoples Democratic party (PDP) won the election and was declared winner by the electoral umpire, and should not be challenged by any body.
Ahmadu also appealed to the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), the Police Service Commission (PSC) the Joint Services Department of the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Justice and the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) to act fast for peace and justice.
He said: “We have observed with keen interest the political development in the country, especially the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and we have come to a conclusion that the Judiciary, which has always been the last hope of the common man, is gradually derailing from its original purpose and we cannot allow the good name of the Judiciary to be dragged on the mold by some selected few.
“An example of this derailing by the Judiciary was the last Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Tribunal Judgment directing the Chairman of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) Hon. Christopher Zakka Maikalangu to vacate office for someone who did not win the election to be sworn in immediately. That is a miscarriage of Justice and should be corrected.
“We do not blame the entire Judiciary for the lapses that have befallen the judicial system, but we believe that some selected few amongst the good ones in the system have sold their conscience just to please their ‘Pay Masters’ at the detriment of the future of the entire residents of the AMAC who came out en mass to vote for their preferred candidate during the just concluded AMAC Chairmanship election.
“We, as a civil society organisation that has been mandated to ensure good governance and justice for all in Abuja and other parts of Nigeria, we cannot stand to see the Judiciary would be misled by some desperate politicians against the interest of the people.
So, we are calling on the National Judicial Council (NJC) saddled with the responsibility of advising the President of Nigeria and Governors on issues related to the judiciary, and also performing disciplinary functions as well as appointment and nomination of executive members of the Judicial, to correct this anomaly and ensure that the right thing is done.
“We are calling on the NJC to withdraw that last Tribunal Judgement that ordered the AMAC Chairman to leave office, that he did not win the election because that was a completely wrong judgment from Judges, who were misled by some desperate politicians.
“We were part of the observers that monitored the February 12, 2022 elections in the FCT, mostly the AMAC election, because of the political interest in AMAC and we observed that the process was completely free, fair, and credible.
“The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) who adjudged the election to be without hitches announced Mr. Christopher Zakka of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the substantive winner of the election with 19,302 votes, while APC who did not have the name of a candidate on the result sheets scored 13, 240 votes.
“So, we are saying that the judgment from the Tribunal was complete misconduct of justice because it stated that the APC candidate got additional 8,000 votes to make him the winner of the election. Our question is, where did the additional over 8,000 votes that were added to the All Progressives Congress emanate from?
“We are shocked by the sacking of the rightful winner of the election, Hon. Christopher Zakka Maikalangu in a process we all witnessed to be fair, free, and credible.
“We are aware that the NJC investigated the results signed by political agents and they tally completely with the results presented by INEC at the Tribunal, and that there was no cancellation of votes at the 12 polling units as claimed in the judgment of the tribunal.
“So why was the authentic result of INEC that was presented to the Tribunal, which tallies with what that of other politicians who contested the election not used in giving the Tribunal judgment?
“The INEC Chairman, Prof. Yakubu Mahmoud, has also warned that if the judgment was allowed to stand, it would serve as an indictment on the independence and credibility of the Independent National Electoral Commission, and we do not want that to happen.
“That is why we are calling on the President of NJC to investigate the judgment and the judges that were involved and ensure that the right thing is done immediately. The judgment should be corrected to avoid future negative occurrences through the judiciary.
“The judiciary should not allow themselves to be used as tools to impose a chairman on the people of AMAC. Also, the NJC should order an arrest of people tampering with the authentic INEC results which were announced in the presence of local and international observers, the media, and their agents, just to mislead the judicial system.
“We have confidence in the justice system and the National Judicial Council (NJC) that they will do due diligence in investigating the judgment and ensure that the right thing is done, for peace to reign in AMAC.”
