Uchendu Alexis
The Abuja division of the Court of Appeal has invalidated the victory of Senate Minority Leader, Simon Mwadkwon, in the Plateau North senatorial election held on February 25.
In a significant ruling, the Appeal Court has instructed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to organize a new election within 90 days.
This decision follows appeals filed by Chris Giwa of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Gyang Zi of the Labour Party (LP), who challenged the verdict of the National/State Election Petitions Tribunal in Jos, Plateau State. The Tribunal had previously affirmed Mwadkwon, representing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as the rightful winner of the senatorial poll.
Giwa and Zi’s appeals were based on the argument that Mwadkwon was ineligible to contest the election due to the PDP’s lack of proper organizational structure.
Delivering the lead judgment, Justice E. Daudu noted that the PDP had not fully complied with a High Court order, as 12 local government areas had not participated in the party congress. He stated, “The court made total findings with regard to the issue in focus. To avoid anarchy, I agree with the appellants that the court must protect an order of another court. I agree with the appellant that the third respondent had no valid structure and could not have claimed to have validly nominated the second respondent (Mwadkwon) for the election.”
Given the findings of the court, the appeal was successful, and the first respondent (INEC) has been directed to conduct a fresh senatorial election in Plateau North within the next 90 days.
