By Gyang Bere, Jos
Sequel to the judgement of the Plateau State High Court which orders for new state congress of the People’s  Democratic Party in the state, former member of House of Representatives who was also chairmanship aspirant Hon. Bitrus  Kaze has called on the party in the State to hang on to the judgement and conduct another Congress based the Court judgement.
 It would be recalled that some aspirants contesting for various state offices within the PDP had approached the court challenging their exclusion in the election.
However, Justice S. Gang of Plateau State High Court in his judgement last week faulted the Congress  that produced Hon. Chris Hassan led State Executive of PDP on the premise that certain conditions  were not fulfilled before the congress was conducted

He said reappointed the Hon Yakubu Chocho into the caretaker committee to conducts screening for themselves as  illegal and unconstitutional based on section 223 of the federal republic of Nigeria amended and section 25(a) of PDP guidelines for the conduct of wards, LGs, and state congresses.

The Court posited out that it was wrong for the State PDP Exco whose tenure expired after four years and seeking re-election to transmute into Caretaker Committee and be umpire in the game they were also taking part.

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According to the judgment, the PDP national Secretariat has the right to extend the tenure of the State executive  adding that it should be done by a neutral exco that can screen and ensure credibility and transparency in the entire exercise.

Speaking on the judgement yesterday, Hon. Kaze urged the party in the state to abide by the judgement said the judgement  has added value to democracy and consequently reinforced the belief that judiciary was the last hope of common man.

“The only way forward is to hang on to the judgement. Before we went to Court, we tried all levels of engagement without any success but the court now says go and conduct proper Congress and also that it is impossible  for contestants to be regulators of the same game he or she is taking part”

” With the Court pronouncement, the Independent National Electoral Commission cannot recognise  anything done by the present leadership of the party in Plateau State unless fresh State congress is conducted. If they choose to carry on like that it will have negative effect on the party on the long run. It also means that the party is setting himself on a dangerous path ahead of 2023 in Plateau State” he said.

On the zoning, Kaze advocated presidency to be given to Southeast so that every region will have a of belonging.
“No particular section should be allowed to dominate the others. All sections of the society of the country should be included in the governance and no section should be sidelined, adding that no reason whatsoever should be canvassed for the exclusion of southeast presidency.
“Zoning is a necessary evil if at all it is an evil,” Kaze said that court in its judgement said it was wrong for an umpire of the game to be a regulator or judgement in its own cause.