Tarzoor attacks NHRC's indictment over electoral violence

The governorship aspi­rant on the ticket of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), for Benue state in the 2015 general elections Prince Terhemen Tarzoor has sharply differed with his list­ing on the National Human Right Commission’s report of persons indicted over elec­toral violence.

In a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Me­dia, Mr. C T Hwande, a copy to which was made avail­able to The AUTHORITY in Makurdi, the PDP chieftain explained that throughout his political life, he has never directly or indirectly incited political violence even when certain decisions were ma­nipulated against his political future.

It added that the Commis­sion of Inquiry which is a fact-finding body ought to have invited him to state his own side of allegations leveled against him regretting that no such invitation was extended to him from the Commission and therefore imagined how it arrived at its resolutions indicting him.

The statement partly read, “That the said indictment was as a result of a Seven Man Commission of Inquiry set up by the NHRC which recommendations the Com­mission has acted on. My observation is however that, a Commission of Inquiry is a fact-finding body and, there­fore, ought to have invited my honourable self for proof of allegations leveled against me, if any at all.

The fact that I didn’t receive any invita­tion from the Commission, abinitio, makes me imagine how it arrived at its resolu­tions indicting me even when it denied me the opportunity of fair hearing.

I wish to reiterate that, nothing would have stopped me from attending its ses­sions if I was invited to ap­pear before the Commission of Inquiry for questioning.
“I wish to herein state and clarify that, I am a peaceful and law abiding citizen of our dear country Nigeria and I have never taken laws into my hands. I have always abide by the rule and due pro­cess of the law especially with specific regard to election matters.

It must be recalled that, in 2011, I was re-elected into the Benue State House of Assembly on the platform of the People’s Democratic Par­ty (PDP), was therein elected Speaker of the State Assem­bly but was subsequently re­moved from office as a result of irregularities observed in the conduct of the election by INEC, through a judgement of the Appeal Court panel sit­ting in Makurdi and I accept­ed the verdict of the Court.

“Again as candidate of the PDP in the April 11 2015 Governorship Election in Benue State, after the election results were declared against me, I approached the Election Petition Tribunal and went all the way through the Appeal Court to the Supreme Court wherin, the Apex Court gave a judgement against me. No matter how dissatisfied I was with the verdicts of the various courts, I accepted the outcomes and has since put them behind me.”
The statement quoted Mr. Tarzoor declaring that he is peaceful and law abiding citi­zen of Nigeria and will never take laws into his hands add­ing that he will always abide by the rules and due process of the law especially with spe­cific regard to election mat­ters

Read more at The Authority News


EmoticonEmoticon