ABUJA- NATIONAL leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has
again lampooned the Department of State Security Service, SSS, saying
that the organisation has hijacked the Tribunals.
According to PDP, the DSS has concluded plans to use the Election Petition Tribunal members to capture some States that were originally won and controlled by the party.
Speaking yesterday at an emergency press briefing, PDP national publicity secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh who called on the Chief Justice of the Federation, Mahmud Mohammed to ensure that the independence of the judiciary was respected by the executive arm of government, said: “The leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party wants to brief the entire Nigeria of a plot by the Department of State Services to hijack the judgement of gubernatorial elections in certain states, especially PDP states in Nigeria.
“The DSS has summoned tribunal judges to dictate what the judgement of the tribunal should be.
“Most specifically, yesterday (Friday), one of the ministerial nominees went to the SSS and insisted that they should summon the tribunal judges to influence the judgement in that state.
“Furthermore, in the case of Rivers State, we have it on good record with complete evidence that the SSS has interfered by summoning the judges, the tribunal members and tribunal to dictate the outcome of the tribunal.
“We informed the Chief Justice of Nigerian of what is happening and that it is incumbent upon the CJN to defend the independence of the judiciary. The judiciary is not an arm of the State Security Service. The time has come for the judiciary to maintain their independence.
“We want to alert the entire nation that this effort by the DSS to interfere with tribunal judgements is unknown to security service practice, either in this country or anywhere in the world. The State Security Services are concerned with homeland security, protecting us from insurgency but not when it comes to political tussle and cases.
“Our warning is that if this continues unabated, it will be difficult for people to have confidence in the judiciary again”.
According to PDP, the DSS has concluded plans to use the Election Petition Tribunal members to capture some States that were originally won and controlled by the party.
Speaking yesterday at an emergency press briefing, PDP national publicity secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh who called on the Chief Justice of the Federation, Mahmud Mohammed to ensure that the independence of the judiciary was respected by the executive arm of government, said: “The leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party wants to brief the entire Nigeria of a plot by the Department of State Services to hijack the judgement of gubernatorial elections in certain states, especially PDP states in Nigeria.
“The DSS has summoned tribunal judges to dictate what the judgement of the tribunal should be.
“Most specifically, yesterday (Friday), one of the ministerial nominees went to the SSS and insisted that they should summon the tribunal judges to influence the judgement in that state.
“Furthermore, in the case of Rivers State, we have it on good record with complete evidence that the SSS has interfered by summoning the judges, the tribunal members and tribunal to dictate the outcome of the tribunal.
“We informed the Chief Justice of Nigerian of what is happening and that it is incumbent upon the CJN to defend the independence of the judiciary. The judiciary is not an arm of the State Security Service. The time has come for the judiciary to maintain their independence.
“We want to alert the entire nation that this effort by the DSS to interfere with tribunal judgements is unknown to security service practice, either in this country or anywhere in the world. The State Security Services are concerned with homeland security, protecting us from insurgency but not when it comes to political tussle and cases.
“Our warning is that if this continues unabated, it will be difficult for people to have confidence in the judiciary again”.
DSS hijacking election tribunals - PDP
![DSS hijacking election tribunals - PDP]()
Reviewed by Vita Ioanes
on
Sunday, October 11, 2015
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