Police Teargas 16 PDP Lawmakers Sacked By Appeal Court While Coming For Plenary

Operatives of the Nigeria Police Force shot teargas canisters on Tuesday to disperse the 16 Peoples Democratic Party members of the Plateau State House of Assembly who were sacked by the Court of Appeal.

It was learnt that the policemen together with other security operatives surrounded the State Government House to prevent the dismissed lawmakers from attending the plenary session as they planned.

However, the lawmakers had vowed not to vacate the premises until they were allowed to attend the plenary session, PUNCH reports.

SaharaReporters earlier reported that the 16 sacked lawmakers had said they would resume plenary today (Tuesday) despite a subsisting court ruling nullifying their elections.

This came as the All Progressives Congress said the lawmakers remained sacked and their plan to resume was an “invitation to anarchy and a threat to democracy.”

Recall that the Court of Appeal in Abuja had in November 2023 sacked all the 16 members of the state House of Assembly elected on the platform of the PDP on the grounds that the party had no structure to nominate them as candidates.

Addressing a press conference in Jos, on Monday, the 16 lawmakers, led by a former Majority Leader, Yobo Ishaku, said since the Supreme Court, which upheld the election of Governor Caleb Mutfwang on the same issue had ruled that the PDP had a valid structure to nominate them as candidates, the verdict of the Court of Appeal sacking them as lawmakers had become a nullity.

Ishaku, who represented Bokkos state constituency, said, “Our recess ends today (Monday) and we want to inform the public that we the PDP family are in high spirits and are willing to go back to our legislative duties willingly given to us by our various constituencies. So, we are all ready to resume work tomorrow (Tuesday).”