Edo 2020: Stop dragging judiciary into politics, focus on campaign – APC warns PDP

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State, on Thursday, fired back at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), cautioning the PDP to desist from dragging the judiciary into politics. APC counseled the PDP to rather focus on campaigning hard for the September 19 governorship election.

APC in a statement on Thursday by Chairman of the Edo State APC Media Campaign Council, Prince John Mayaki, explained  that exercising a legal right does not translate to forum-shopping or disrespect for the judiciary.

The PDP on Thursday held a press conference in Benin City, claiming the APC success at getting some judges to recuse themselves from cases, for likely bias, was an attack on the judiciary. The PDP had alleged that APC was intimidating the courts and judges, seeking presiding judges and courts that would deliver favourable judgment to the party.

The Chairman APC Media Campaign Council, for the Edo State governorship election, Prince John Mayaki, swiftly responded, expressing perturbation why the PDP is conceptualizing judicial processes with “mischievous hysteria”, in the granting of a routine application to guarantee justice for both parties in the suits before the courts.

Mayaki remarked that “The Chief Judge of the Federal High Court acted on the merit of the APC application and did what honest and proper procedure demanded.”

He remarked: “How that equated an attack on the judiciary and forum-shopping only exists in the PDP’s jittery and frenzied application.”

The Head of Media and Publicity of the APC Campaign Council in Edo, maintained that the party has high praise and respect for the courts, for taking actions that would assure everyone of justice and fairness; he, however, expressed concerns why the PDP was dragging the courts to a partisan frontier.

APC, therefore, cautioned: “We should be very wary of dragging the judiciary into politics.” Noting that even a desperate PDP should know that, APC wondered why, in its “idleness and listlessness”, the PDP had suddenly turned  spokespersons for the judiciary, instead of focusing on its campaign, where it was losing steam, every passing second.

Prince Mayaki was of the view that the Thursday press conference signified the latest example of how the Edo PDP wasted its time on “frivolities”, adding that PDP was employing such ploys to excuse the electoral disaster that awaits the party on September 19.

“Let the world bear us witness.  When we, the APC, were busy campaigning and selling our message of hope and SIMPLE Agenda to our Edo people, PDP was busy addressing useless press conferences to push out lies and deceit. When it loses badly on election day, it would rush to the same press conference to lament its failure and alleged rigging,” APC declared.