*demand redeployment of CP
By; JACOB ONJEWU DICKSON
Rising from a meeting held in Lagos on Tuesday November 29, 2022, a coalition of 87 ethnic nationalities have demanded the immediate arrest of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) embattled candidate ahead of the Zamfara 2023 gubernatorial polls, for organizing a campaign rally after he was disqualified by a court.
The coalition in a communique made available to our correspondent on Wednesday November 30, jointly signed by Yerima Shettima (Arewa Youths Consultative Forum), Comr Mazi Okwu Nnabuike (President Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youths Council), Comr Eric Oluwole (President Yoruba Youths Council),
Barr, Abubakar Kurawa (Arewa Lawyers Progressive Forum) and
Comr. Israel Uwejeyan (President Niger Delta Youth Congress), also demanded replacement of the Commissioner of Police Zamfara State by the Inspector General of Police over alleged compromise.
“The leaders of this coalition of ethnic nationalities call for the immediate arrest of former PDP governorship flagbearer, Dauda Lawal for organizing a rally after a court of competent jurisdiction disqualified him along with all candidates in the last primary elections.
“We cannot fathom why a former PDP governorship candidate that has been disqualified from the party primaries should ignore the decision of the honourable court and carry on as if nothing has happened.
“This is a smear on decorum, abuse of judicial verdict and a classical example of contempt of court. We are shocked by this development because we expect those advising the PDP candidate to have warned him about the risks of contempt of court,” it said..
They therefore, called on the Inspector-General of Police to expedite action on this matter, in the interest of Rule of Law, democracy and social justice.
According to the coalition, they convened the meeting in Lagos on November 29, 2022 and drafted the communique on the issue of contempt of court by the embattled 2023 PDP governorship candidate, Dauda Lawal.
“There are other incidents of court nullification of primaries and Zamfara is proving to be an exception, for the wrong reason. The whole world knows that court initially nullified the primaries that produced Emmanuel Bwacha and Aishatu Binani as the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidates for Taraba and Adamawa states respectively. And the two candidates stopped their rallies immediately. And proceeded to the Court of Appeal and won back their cases. Unlike the former Zamfara PDP governorship candidate, Binani and Bwacha halted their rallies immediately after the court verdict and later proceeded to Court of Appeal to challenge the judgement of the lower court. But the former Zamfara PDP governorship candidate would not respect the law,” the communique added
According to the coalition, they learnt that the embattled PDP candidate has even boasted that he has held meetings with the Zamfara State Commissioner of Police (CP) before embarking on the rally, and this could be the exact reason why the CP failed to take the appropriate action by investigating and sanctioning Dauda Lawal.
“We have reason to suspect that the CP is compromised. We urge the IG of Police not to spare the Zamfara PDP governorship candidate, as his arrest should serve as deterrence to others, because no Nigerian citizen should consider himself as above the law, moreso under a democracy.
“We also call on INEC to consider disqualifying PDP candidate Dauda Lawal even on the grounds of sponsoring thuggery for physical assault and injury to innocent Zamfara people and the destruction of Billboards.
“We read reports about the arrest of the thugs but we believe that doing so is not enough as their sole sponsor Dauda Lawal – should have been arrested same time as his terror gang members, because he is number one suspect.
“We advise the IG of Police to also replace the current CP of Zamfara because the aloofness of the police in the State, on this weighty issue that requires prompt arrest of Malam Dauda Lawal smacks of suspicious moves to cover up contempt case. We also want the Director-General of DSS in Abuja to replace the Zamfara DSS boss as we suspect he is compromised as well,” the coalition said.
They pointed out that there is no justification for violence unleashed by these thugs in a fragile state like Zamfara unless there is deliberate plot to reverse the gains made by Governor Bello Mohammed Matawalle in the fight against insecurity.
“Lastly, the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) needs to wake up to its responsibility of protecting and promoting the interest of the judiciary. Politicians are disobeying court order deliberately, thereby ridiculing the authority of the institution of judiciary. This must be stopped,” they warned.
