Zamfara APC Condemns Gov. Lawal,Urges Him to Stop Using Judiciary as Tool of Intimidation
The Zamfara chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has strongly condemned the alleged judicial harassment of state lawmakers by Governor Dauda Lawal, urging him to stop using the judiciary as a tool to intimidate and harass the legislators.
In a statement released on Sunday, the party’s Publicity Secretary, Yusuf Idris, expressed concern over the governor’s actions, which he described as “embarrassing” and “disturbing”.
According to Idris, the governor should have engaged in dialogue with the aggrieved lawmakers to resolve the crisis amicably, rather than resorting to judicial harassment.
“The governor would not achieve anything by using his office to harass and intimidate the honorable members, who refused to be manipulated by his government and decided to form a parallel assembly for the benefit of their constituents,” Idris stated.
The APC chapter in Zamfara State has accused the state government of “witch-hunting” the nine elected members of the State House of Assembly, using the judiciary to order their arrest without any summons or charges.
This, despite a pending case in the Court of Appeal, Sokoto, and a petition written to the Inspector General of Police, the Director General of the DSS, the National Security Adviser, the National Assembly, and other stakeholders by the aggrieved lawmakers.
“We at the Zamfara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have found it disturbing and embarrassing how the state government is using the machinery of the judiciary to attack constitutionally elected members of the State House of Assembly for executing their legislative functions,” Idris said.
The APC chapter has called on Governor Lawal to stop the harassment and engage in dialogue with the aggrieved lawmakers to resolve the crisis. “We are therefore calling on the state government under Governor Dauda Lawal to stop these harassment, sit with the aggrieved members and amicably resolve the crisis in order to move forward,” the statement reads.
Idris emphasized that the APC would continue to uphold the rule of law, but would not allow judicial officers to be politicized and used against public interests. “Although the APC will continue to be on the right side of the law, the party will not allow judicial officers to be politicised and used against public interests,” he said.
The APC chapter has also called on the nine aggrieved members to petition the Judicial Service Commission against the court order granted by the Magistrate, which they believe was unjust and biased. “We finally call on the nine aggrieved members to petition the Judicial Service Commission against the court order granted by the Magistrate in order to serve as a lesson to other judicial officers,” Idris said.
