October 24, 2023 NewsOrient

The Court of Appeal has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct a fresh senatorial election in Plateau North Senatorial District even as it voided the election of the Senate Minority Leader, Simon Mwadkwon of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

This is the judgment of the court in Abuja on Sunday, where a three-member panel of the court found, among others, that “the PDP had no valid candidate in the election.”

Following its findings, the court ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a fresh election in the senatorial district within 90 days.

It would be recalled that Chris Giwa of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Gyang Zi of the Labour Party (LP) had appealed against the judgment of the Elections Petitions Tribunal which sat in Jos, Plateau State, and affirmed Mwadkwon as the winner of the senatorial election.

Part of the contentions of the appellants was that “Mwadkwon was not qualified to stand for an election because the PDP had no structure to nominate a candidate,” since it failed to comply with an earlier order by the state’s High Court “for the party to conduct a proper state congress.”

In the lead judgment therefore, Justice Elphreda Dawodu-Williams held that “the earlier order by High Court was not fully complied with by the PDP as 12 Local Government Areas did not participate in the said congress.”

Justice Dawodu-Williams added: “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 (PDP) had no valid structure and could not have claimed to have validly nominated the second respondent (Mwadkwon) for the election.

“Given the findings of this court, the appeal, therefore, succeeds as the court order was not complied with.

“The first respondent (INEC) is hereby ordered to conduct another senatorial election in Plateau North within 90 days,” the court held.

NewsOrient

Photo Credit: Research Gate