Boma Achenimie 
The Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Gabriel Dewan, has declared that he would not grant recognition to the 16 Court of Appeal-ordered All Progressives Congress (APC) members, stressing that he would only recognize eight members of the house out of the 24 lawmakers.
The Speaker made the declaration following the judgment of the Supreme Court which took a swipe at the decisions of the Court of Appeal that nullified the election of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) members and gave their seats to APC members in the state.
Speaking to newsmen in Jos, the state capital, Dewan announced that the 16 opposition APC members persona non grata outrightly, saying “As it stands now, only eight members are recognized in the Assembly.”
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It would be recalled that Dewan, the sole member of the Young Peoples Party (YPP-Pankshin North), assumed the role of speaker in the heat of the Appeal Court sacking of the 16 members elected on the platform of the PDP.
The Appeal Court had controversially sacked the 16 PDP members on the ground that the party lacked structure at the time of their nomination, rendering them ineligible candidates, following which the court directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw their certificates of return and issue same to the All Progressives Congress (APC) members.
The Supreme Court in a judgment, delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, on Friday, in Abuja, however, chided the appellate court, stating that the sack of the 16 PDP members was a miscarriage of justice.
Agim argued that the APC and its candidate had no right to intervene in the internal affairs of another political party and nullified the earlier sacking of Gov Caleb Mutfwang by the Court of Appeal.
