The Labour Party has raised concerns about the fairness of judgment following the recent removal of Governor Caleb Mutfwang who was declared the valid winner of the March 18 Plateau governorship election.
The Labour Party, through its chief spokesman Yunusa Tanko believes that these judgments might be influenced by individuals in the executive branch, using the judiciary to gain control over states.
Tanko, in an interview with PUNCH monitored by Quest Times, emphasized the need to challenge the ruling party to prevent the complete dominance of other political parties. He described those in power as “vicious politicians” and warned that if not contested, they could undermine democracy by controlling institutions and discouraging voters.
He said, “As I said earlier, these particular set of people in power are vicious politicians. I repeat the word vicious again for emphasis.
“Gradually, we are beginning to witness completely captured states where all the institutions have already been bought, intimidated or blackmailed to do the bidding of the present political party and the government in power.
“There is no hanky-panky about it. They are clear on what they want to do and they are putting our democracy in power.
“It is now left for us to really challenge these particular people otherwise they are going to take us completely to the cleaners. And they don’t care how, when, and where they do it as long as it favours them. This is the danger.
“Now the electorates are being discouraged from going out to vote for candidates of their choice knowing that the mandate can be snatched. They are already in control of the state apparatus.
“We had a similar situation at a point when the PDP was in power. These particular people in power will be referencing how virtually everybody was joining the PDP (during President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration) then.
“There was no clear ideology and that was what gave birth to the APC conglomerate. But in this case, it is a different matter entirely. These people in power are just too vicious.”