•Don’t cage Nigeria into one party state, 200 lawyers warn Tinubu, judiciary

Northern Democratic Alliance (NDA) has alleged discovery of a plan by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to destabilise the North.

According to the group, the plan is to weaken the North socially, politically and economically, to make it unable to challenge him in 2027.

This is contained in a statement by the Convener of NDA, Hamisu Gombe; and Secretary, Josiah Pam, in Kaduna, yesterday.

In the statement, the group warned leaders of the region against complacency, urging them to wake up to the new reality confronting the region.

“We are using this medium to call on well meaning leaders in the North, secular and religious, to brace up for what is coming to our land. Certain leaders have been marked down. Among them are Nasir el-Rufai, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Atiku Abubakar, Danjuma Goje and Sani Yerima.

“We are also calling on them to close ranks in the interest of our people, so as not to be caught off guard,” the statement reads.

According to the group, Tinubu, fully aware of his growing unpopularity in the country, particularly in the North, is aiming to snatch key states in the region and he has started.

NDA stated that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) was doing all it can to snatch key states of Zamfara, Kano and Plateau from the opposition, to install its stooges into office to ensure that the party wins the states by hook or crook.

Sounding a note of warning, the NDA urged leaders in the region not to see the development as mere politics or consigned to the judiciary, it d the leaders to unite and stop President Tinubu’s imperial and dictatorship tendency.

It stated that the consequences of allowing the trend to continue would further cause untold problems for the North, which is on the reeling under the yoke of armed banditry and Boko Haram.

Worried by what they termed as contradictory verdict of the Court of Appeal in the Kano State 2023 gubernatorial polls, 200 lawyers from the 19 states of Northern Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), yesterday, converged on Kaduna to protest, insisting that the rule of law must be obeyed to ensure votes of every Nigerian count during elections.

Speaking on behalf of the lawyers under the banner of Abba Kabir Yusuf Volunteer Lawyers Forum For The 19 Northern States And Abuja at a press conference at Arewa House, Kaduna, Yusuf Ibrahim said President Bola Tinubu and the Supreme Court should not allow Nigeria become a one party state, as it is an unhealthy democratic practice.

He said: “We call on our President, Tinubu, and the judiciary to respect the rule of law and resist the temptation to operate a one-party system in Nigeria and guarantee the votes of every electorate to speak for him as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution.”

Fielding questions from newsmen, another member, Usman Ashafa, said the contradictory judgment left much to be desired.

He said the errors discovered in the Certified True Copy (CTC) in five paragraphs were unforgivable. (The Guardian)

Update news