The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described Saturday’s Taraba State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal judgment in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, in the April 11 elections, Mrs Aisha Alhassan as “another evidence of executive interference” in the judiciary.

The party said the reason given by the tribunal for arriving at what it termed “bizarre decision” is intriguing and further exposed the “contradictions and double standards” inherent in most tribunal rulings against PDP interests recently.

A statement on Saturday by PDP national publicity secretary, Mr Olisa Metuh, said the Taraba State tribunal ruling “brought to the fore the organised plan by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC federal government to deploy all unorthodox means to decimate the opposition.”

The PDP said if the tribunal is faulting the party’s primaries as basis for its decision, it then means that no APC gubernatorial candidate can stand the test, as their party never had acceptable primaries in any of their states.

The party said it was “totally confounded by the brazing (sic) show of power” by the executive and warned that the development “clearly portends grave danger to the country’s democracy, national cohesion and development.”

The party called on its members across the country, especially in Taraba State to remain undaunted “as the appellate courts would restore its well-deserved victory.”

It said “evidence that Taraba ruling was a product of Presidency manipulation can be deduced from the fact that few hours before the judgment was delivered, the APC had arrogantly announced their victory on the new media.

“It is rather curious and a great conflict of irony that the Taraba tribunal sitting in Abuja on security grounds faulted the conduct of PDP primaries shifted to the same Abuja on security reasons.” (Channels TV)

•Photo shows Olisa Metuh.

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