The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja today Sunday sacked the People’s Democratic Party, PDP’s Caleb Mutfwang as the duly elected Governor of Plateau State.
Justice Elfreda Oluwayemisi Williams-Dawodu JCA, who chaired the Court of Appeal panel, ordered INEC to withdraw the Certificate of Return issued to Mutfwang and award it to the Litigant-turned-Appellant and All Progressives Congress, APC candidate, Nentawe Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda.
Today’s ruling by the Court of Appeal overturned the Tribunal decision that earlier affirmed Muftwang as the duly elected Governor of Plateau State.
At the March 20, 2023 governorship election, INEC had declared PDP’s Caleb Mutfwang winner with 525,299 votes against the runner-up, the APC candidate, Nentawe, who polled 481,370 votes.
Subsequently, Nentawe and his party APC petitioned the tribunal, with INEC, Muftwang and PDP as defendants.
A September 22 ruling by the Plateau State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal in Jos dismissed the petition for lacking in merit.
Following this adverse ruling, Nentawe and APC approached the Appeal Court, which has today upheld the appeal and sacked the Governor.
According to the court, PDP violated a court order and had no structure with which it presented a candidate for the governorship election.
The court held that Nentawe and APC were right to pursue their case as the issue of qualification was both a pre-election and post-election matter under Section 177(c) of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 and Section 80 and 82 of the Electoral Act, 2022.
Supporting the lead judgement, a panelist on the Court of Appeal, Justice Okon Abang, said: “I agree with learned Chair (Elfreda) that Failure of tribunal to admit evidence tendered by the Appellant amounts to miscarriage of justice. By way of exhibit G1, PDP will always be on its way to self destruction, Except PDP complies with the Court Order, it loses the right to contest in any election. PDP’s votes are wasted.
“Sentiments and sympathy have no place in law. It is only the law and the law only. My lords, I have my doubts that the PDP conducted fresh congresses that involved the 17 LGAs of Plateau State.
“The duty of the court is not to make litigants happy but to do justice.
“The Tribunal was hard on the appellant when it likened the appellant to one crying more than the bereaved. If the appellant finds his neighbour with a goat that doesn’t belong to him, there is nothing wrong if he complains or raises alarm.
“There was no party called PDP at the time of the election and could not have sponsored a candidate in the elections.
“The issue in my view is not the right of PDP to contest the election but its competence to do so. “PDP was nowhere to be found in Plateau State having failed to comply with exhibit G1 as at the time of the election. A political party with no structure cannot be qualified to sponsor a candidate for election. The Tribunal was in grave error when it held that the Petitioner had no right to contest the election.”