Three persons were injured in Lafia the Nasarawa State capital during a protest against the recent Court of Appeal judgment declaring Alhaji Abdullahi Sule as the winner of the March 18, 2023 Governorship Election in Nasarawa State.
The protesters who were mostly women and youths from different religious and ethnic groups under the aegis of Coalition for Social Justice gathered in their hundreds at the entry point to Lafia the Nasarawa State capital and led a procession on one lane of the road.
On arriving at the Lafia Township Stadium junction along Lafia Jos road in the metropolis, a convoy of military vehicles including Armoured Personnel Carrier ran into the crowd of protesters resulting to three of them including two women sustaining various degrees of injuries.
Leader of the coalition group Mr. James Allu said the action of the soldiers was uncalled for as they were embarking on a peaceful way of rejecting the Appeal Court verdict which upturned the judgment of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal that nullified the election of Alhaji Abdullahi Sule of the All Progressives Congress APC and declared Dr. David Ombagadu of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP winner of the election.
He noted that all the security agencies including the Nigerian Army were duly notified of their intentions to embark on a peaceful protest against the judgment of the Appeal Court.
“We will continue with the protest until justice is done and our mandate is restored,”he said.
One of the injured persons during the protest Mr Kefas Tiga called on the military authorities to initiate an investigation with a view to unravel the circumstances surrounding the attack on them by the soldiers .
“We voted without technicalities but they nullified the judgment of the tribunal that declared Ombagadu winner of the election based on technicalities. We are protesting against the appeal court judgment. They came with force and ran into us including women. Three people including me were injured,” he remarked.
Mrs Halima Audu and Hajiya Larai Aliyu said they had been law abiding in expressing their feelings on the Appeal Court Judgment to draw attention of the judiciary especially the supreme court to ensure that the mandate of the majority during the March 18, 2023 Governorship Election was upheld.
The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in a split judgment of two against one had nullified the election of Governor Abdullahi Sule and declared Dr David Ombagadu of the PDP winner of the election but the appeal court sitting in Abuja upturned the tribunal’s verdict.