The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has taken a significant step by lodging a formal complaint with the National Judicial Council (NJC) concerning what they perceive as injudicious remarks made by Justice Benson Anya during the judgment on the Kano governorship elections.
Justice Anya’s comments during the tribunal’s verdict have come under scrutiny, with allegations that he made derogatory remarks about the NNPP and its members.
According to reports, Justice Anya was quoted as saying, “Instead of some Kano politicians to be allowed to use banditry and violence to abort democracy in Kano State, justice will be used to stop them from destroying democracy in Kano and upward.”
In response, Hashimu Dungurawa, the state Chairman of NNPP, spoke to journalists in Kano and expressed his concerns. He asserted that the party felt denied justice based on emotional and biased sentiments.
The NNPP has formally petitioned the NJC, challenging the judge’s comments and seeking a review of the verdict. Dungurawa stated, “We shall see whether he is right to use personal sentiments and quashed our victory and also seeks justice on this.”
He said, “A judge cannot just sit down because of unfounded death threats to be impartial in our judgement. This clearly showed to us that you are not being fair and just in this election verdict.
“We are not taking lightly the comments credited to Justice Anya that, ‘the gang of red cap wearers who, are like a violent and terrorist cult, chased us out of Kano and put us in the fear of our lives.’
The NNPP Chairman criticized these comments as inappropriate and unbecoming of a judge responsible for upholding justice and the rule of law. He further highlighted that the remarks made by Justice Anya went beyond the bounds of judicial immunity and suggested a bias against the NNPP leadership and its members.
He continued, “Of course, these libelous, and outright condemnable comments credited to the panel and especially those portions where Justice Benson Anya went beyond his judicial bounds of immunity and acted as if he is an interested party in the matter by casting aspersions on the leadership and members of NNPP.”
The NNPP’s petition to the NJC seeks a thorough investigation into the matter and a review of the tribunal’s judgment, based on the alleged bias demonstrated by Justice Benson Anya’s remarks.