By Ado Hassan, Sokoto
Following the Sokoto state 2019 Governorship Election Petition Tribunal verdict which validated Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal’s reelection, Leaders of no fewer than 30 political parties in the state on Sunday expressed utter disbelief and concern over the outcome given on Wednesday 2nd October 2019, in Abuja.
However, the coalition also condemned what they unanimously described as abuse of judicial process, calling on the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) to investigate how such ‘miscarriage’ of justice was done.
According to the coalition of political parties which issued a statement in Sokoto signed by its Chairman, Alhaji Mujitaba Aminu, their concern and grave fear was borne, not so much by the content of the judgment (that is a matter for legal luminaries to reflect and comment on), but by the petrifying precedence it is setting for the collective political future of the state and nation.
It pointed out that ” what this verdict seems to say, is that from now on, every politician must seek to win election, by fair or foul means. By hook or by crook.
” The above explanation is the only interpretation one can give to a judgment which condones the violence and terror deployed by the PDP during the last governorship election.
” They bribed and connived with corrupt election officials and deranged law enforcement personnel to steal the people’s mandate”, Aminu explained further.
In furtherance, the coalition noted that developments as that, where elections were decided not by universal suffrage of free votes, voluntarily cast by the electorate, but by coercion, terror and bribery portends a very grave danger for national democracy.
However, the statement observed that the verdict appeared to recommend a return to the rule of the jungle, where might will always be right.
” Another painful and negatively unique occurrence, which to the best of our knowledge is unknown in Nigeria’s judicial history, is that the court’s verdict had already become public knowledge, several hours before the judge pronounced it in the court room.
“Every indigene of Sokoto State was surprised to see electronic and print media houses carrying the court’s judgment, even while the complainants and the defendants were sitting before the tribunal, nervously waiting for the verdict.
“This is a strong indication that the judgment had already been compromised, leaked and released to some chosen media outfits, while the court engaged in, what one can call a grand deception
