Appeal Court’s decision to sack Plateau Governor receives criticism from PDP’s Bwala

Daniel Bwala, a prominent member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), attacked an appellate court ruling on Monday that dismissed Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang.

“We have never witnessed an election being declared invalid because a voter disobeyed a court order,” Bwala stated on Monday’s Politics Today show on Channels Television.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) reports that Mutwang received 525,299 votes, defeating 17 other contenders, including All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate Nentawe Goshwe, who received 481,370 votes in the March poll.

The Plateau State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal upheld Mutfwang’s election back in September, but two months later, an appeal court fired the PDP governor on Sunday and directed INEC to give Goshwe a Certificate of Return. The party, according to the court, disobeyed the injunction for a legitimate congress to be held in each of the state’s 17 local government districts.

Lawyer Bwala, however, asserted that a court ruling regarding party congresses should not render an election null and void.

Section 134 does not include disobedience to a court order as one of its reasons. The court might now claim that failure to hold the primary led to the disobedience of the court order,” he stated.

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“It is pre-election, even if they don’t hold the primary, but it is more about the disobedience of the court order.”

“Because our eyes are now fixed on Ebonyi, then we have every reason to believe that it will go in the favour of PDP,” he advised the people of the Plateau to remain optimistic.

The appellate court dismissed three governors who INEC had declared victors of the March 2023 election last week. The appeal court removed three governors, all of whom are members of opposing parties. Every governor has promised to seek remedies from the Supreme Court.

Abba Yusuf of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) was dismissed by the court, and Nasir Gawuna, the nominee for the APC, was proclaimed the victor.

Eight months after the result was deemed inconclusive in Zamfara, the appellate court dismissed PDP candidate Dauda Lawal. The court mandated that INEC hold new elections in the state’s three local government districts. The two front-runners in the contest are Bello Matawalle of the APC and Lawal of the PDP.