Integrity of judiciary at stake – Minority leader flays Appeal Court over Plateau, Kaduna Reps ruling

<p>The Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Kingsley Chinda, has questioned the recent actions of the Nigerian judiciary, alleging that its integrity is at stake.</p>, <p>Chinda’s remarks followed the recent judgments of the Appeal Court which removed opposition lawmakers from Plateau and Kaduna States in the House of Representatives.</p>, <p>The mminority leader claimed the rulings of the Appeal Court eroded public interest and does not portend well for the country’s democracy.</p>, <p>In a statement he signed, Chinda said “we are shocked that the Justices of the Appeal Court delivered judgements that are not only conflicting but negates proven and established legal precedence.</p>, <p>“With due respect to the justices, the grounds in which the Justices reached their unfortunate and regrettable judgments are totally unacceptable, ludicrous, capricious and outrightly unlawful. The obvious illogic which characterised the judgments falls short of our constitutional and electoral jurisprudence.”</p>, <p>The lawmaker said, despite the well established jurisprudence on pre-election matters, “the justices decided to side-track, neglect, and jettison established precedents clearly and explicitly delivered by the Supreme Court. It is not only sad and painful; but shameful that the justices, in their warped wisdom, gave such patently prejudiced and inconsistent judgements without respect for existing substantive and procedural law.”</p>, <p>He cited instances between the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and Vice President Kashim Shettima, where the Supreme Court, in dismissing the appeal, ruled that, “you cannot challenge a political party over structure even if it does not have the structure.”</p>, <p>Also, he noted out that the Supreme Court dismissed the Allied Peoples Mandate’s suit against the Independent National Electoral Commission on the same ground.</p>, <p>,Chinda recounted how the Appeal Court, in strict adherence to established jurisprudence in October 2023 dismissed a matter by the All Progressives