The Presidential Election Petition Tribunal and the Katsina State National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal recent judgments have disappointed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Katsina State.
The PDP campaign in Katsina in 2023 was led by Senator Umar Ibrahim Sauri, who served as its former chairman, in strongly denouncing what they called a “misplacement of justice.”
Senator Sauri urged PDP supporters in Katsina State and across Nigeria to reject the tribunals’ rulings, claiming that they were inconsistent with the fundamentals of justice.
He compared the tribunal’s rulings to the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) activities, charging the electoral body with misleading Nigerians.
The Senator expressed special concern about the tribunal’s decisions on the Katsina PDP members’ qualifications, which were based on primary school diplomas.
Contrastingly, he made reference to a recent judgement on President Tinubu’s credentials and stated that they will investigate all legal options to contest what they believed to be unjust decisions.
Aminu Ahmadu Chindo of the PDP, who represented the Katsina Central Federal Constituency, and Ismail Dalha, who represented the Kankia/Kusada/Ingawa federal constituency, recently had their victories over other candidates for the House of Representatives ruled invalid by the National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal in Katsina, which is presided over by Hon. Justice O. Ogunfowora.
Their exclusion was justified by the alleged presenting of fake school transcripts.
Additionally, Senator Sauri asserted that Justice Tsammani and the other justices on the court of appeal had made a commitment to base their decisions on factual evidence rather than technicalities.
In spite of this, he claimed that “these assurances remained unfulfilled, with judgments seemingly swaying towards personal interests.”
The senator strongly denounced this as a “rape of democracy” and forewarned of the precedent’s future unviability.
Senator Sauri, who expressed concern about the state of democracy in Nigeria, claimed that the ruling party, INEC, the security services, and the judiciary looked to have a significant influence over the current electoral process.
He closed with a prayer for divine intervention: “May Allah deliver Nigeria, Nigerians, and democracy.”