In compliance with the directive by the National Secretariat of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, state chapters of the party on Sunday, organised street protests against the Supreme Court judgement that sacked Emeka Ihedioha as Imo State Governor.
In Cross River State, the leadership and members of the party staged a protest on the streets of Calabar, the state capital.
Speaking during the protest that moved round the Muritala Mohammed Highway, Chairman of the party in Cross River State, Edim Inok Edim, said the aim of the protest was to tell the judiciary, the government in power and Nigerians to revert the injustice done to the party’s candidate and Governor in Imo State.
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The Chairman, whose remarks was supported by the State Publicity Secretary, Egbung Odama, said all Nigerians of good faith irrespective of political parties must join hands to speak out against injustice as their silence could be taken to mean consent to the daylight robbery against the nation’s democracy.
The Taraba State chapter of the PDP also joined in the nationwide protest by the party to condemn the removal of Emeka Ihedioha, as Governor of Imo State, by the Supreme Court.
The party noted that the discrepancies in the election figures announced by the court, with that of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, is a pointer that the judiciary has been compromised.
The PDP members converged on the party secretariat to air their grievance over the Supreme Court judgement.
It said that the court’s verdict is a destruction of Nigeria’s democratic value, enshrined in the 1999 Constitution.
The State Party Chairman, Victor Kona, said that the court resorted to manufacturing votes for the APC candidate, Hope Uzodinma, against the will of the people.
He added that the verdict shows that the judiciary is a loss of hope for the common man.
The main opposition party said that it remains resolute to see that similar judicial manipulation is not used against its governorship candidates in pending governorship litigations.
Also in Kaduna, the PDP state chapter said that Nigeria’s democracy is sliding and grossly in pain.
Addressing a news conference at the party’s secretariat, the party leaders said that Nigeria has become a laughing stock as there is urgent need for Nigerians to rise up and rescue their country’s democracy from the present situation.
The party said that it will not sit idle and watch while electoral victories are snatched away from them through judicial pronouncements and executive orders.
The PDP therefore called on the Supreme Court to toe the line of justice and correct its errors in order to salvage the country’s democracy.