A coalition of youth groups has called on Mr Gideon Gwani, the defeated PDP candidate for Kaura Federal Constituency of Kaduna State, to withdraw his appeal against the Tribunal judgement that sealed his fate.
Gwani, the immediate past House Minority Whip, had filed an appeal after the tribunal affirmed the victory of Donatus Mathew of the Labour Party at the Feb. 25 National Assembly election.
The youths made the call on Tuesday during a peaceful march to the three chiefdoms in Kaura where they urged the traditional ruler to prevail on Gwani to sheathe his sword.
One of the youth leaders, Mr Francis Peter, co-ordinator of Kaura Integrity Youths, said the court case was distracting Mathew from delivering the dividends of democracy to his constituents.
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Peter argued that the large sums of money being expended on the litigation by both parties could have been channeled into development projects in the constituency.
“The court case is not allowing our representative to focus on the job at hand.
“The resources that should be used to develop our constituency are now being used to pursue the case in court.
“We want our traditional institutions to intervene so that the matter will be resolved internally. We don’t want the courts anymore,” he added
Also speaking, Mr Ashinge Kanga, spokesperson of Kaura Youth Coalition, noted that having served for 16 years, it was only fair for Gwani to give the youths a chance.
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“Given his wealth of legislative experience, we expected Gwani to give guidance and direction to the new member instead of dragging him to court.”
On his part, Mr Emmanuel Bagu, coordinator of Kaura Concerned Youths, thanked Gwani for his contributions to development of the area over the years and urged him to throw his weight behind his successor.
Bagu maintained that while Gwani was within his constitutional right to appeal the verdict of the tribunal, the collective will and interest of the Kaura people should always come first.
“We are grateful for his contribution over the years but now is the time for him to get behind the new lawmaker.
“We understand that it’s his right to appeal but we want him to have a rethink and drop this case for the good of everyone,” he stated
In their separate remarks, the representatives of the Takad, Kagoro and Moroa chiefdoms in the area promised to look into the issue