The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nentawe Yilwatda, has said that party membership does not shield anyone from prosecution, stressing that members facing criminal charges must retain their fundamental rights until proven guilty by a court.
Yilwatda made the remarks during an interview with Channels Television on Sunday, where he maintained that the party would not strip its members of their rights simply because they were standing trial.
According to the APC chairman, some party members are already appearing in court over ongoing cases, but their legal status does not automatically make them guilty.
He said the party would continue to respect the principle of presumption of innocence, under which an accused person is considered innocent until a court establishes otherwise.
“Nobody is protected. I don’t want to mention names, but I know members of our party who are undergoing prosecution and appear in court every day,” Yilwatda said.
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He added that the APC could not use the fact that a member was facing prosecution as justification for denying them their fundamental human rights.
“As long as you have not been convicted, we assume you’re innocent because that’s what the law says.
“So, as APC members, we can’t use strict prosecutions to go ahead and deny people their fundamental human rights,” he stated.
