PDP demands investigation of alleged bribery of tribunal judges in Zamfara

By Musa Baba Adamu

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Zamfara State, has condemned the alleged plan by All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state to influence the yet to be announced judgement of the election petition tribunal in its favour.

Addressing newsmen in Gusau, the Acting State Chairman of the PDP, Mukhtar Muhammad Lugga alleged that APC was planning to make the state ungovernable for the ruling party.

“The State APC has been blackmailing all the activities of the ruling party in the state. The APC does not want peace to reign in the state”, he alleged.

The PDP Chairman alleged that, “in a widely circulated audio recording, a staunch APC supporter, Malam Anas Anka, the managing director of Thunder Blowers, an online TV station, openly boasted how he was contacted by the former Governor Abdulaziz Yari.”

Lugga claimed that the former governor was reported to have planned to bribe and influence members of the State House of Assembly to commence impeachment proceedings against Governor Dauda Lawal.

He said “In the same vein, the audio clip revealed that Anas Anka was making damning allegations on the judiciary, particularly the judges of the state election tribunal, who he said were induced to issue advance judgement in favour of APC”.

The Chairman lamented that his party was bringing the recent development to the notice of the authorities to forestall the possibility of a breakdown of law and order, as well as to protect the integrity of the judiciary, which he said by the leaked audio, has subjected them to question.

According to him, “We have directed our lawyers to immediately file an appeal, with the hope that the judiciary will seize the opportunity to correct any potential reason for miscarriage of justice that may have gone unnoticed.”

Lugga, who doubles as the Chief of staff to Governor Lawal, said his party has called on the National Judicial Council (NJC) to order a full investigation on the allegations of foul play on the part of the judges of the Tribunal, as levelled against them by Anas Anka.

The State PDP Acting Chairman also appealed to the DSS to invite the Managing Editor of the Thunder Blowers online for questioning and retrieval of the yet to be announced judgements he claims to have in his possession on the outstanding cases of governorship and State House of Assembly petitions currently at the Tribunal.

The party also called on former Governor Abdulaziz Yari to, as a matter of urgency, clear his name from the allegations of bribery, financial inducement and corruption levelled against him by Anas Anka.