Bisijohn:

A federal high Court judge, Justice Ibrahim Autua, in Abuja this morning spared seven PDP governors from standing election in April.

In a ruling that stunned political and legal observers, the court ruled that there should not be governorship elections in Adamawa, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Kogi, Rivers and Sokoto states since the court claimed that the tenure of the incumbent governors had not expired.

The affected governors were those whose elections were overturned by electoral tribunals on account of electoral fraud in the 2007 elections, but who were subsequently declared winners of questionable re-run elections conducted by former INEC chairman Maurice Iwu except in Delta state .

“It’s curious that our courts continues a tradition of subverting Nigeria’s democratic gains and shoring up the ruling Peoples Democratic Party,” said a democracy activist based in Abuja. He added, “this kind of judicial impunity may instigate widespread revolt by the long-suffering people of Nigeria.”