Caleb Mutfwang, the governor of Plateau State, was fired by the Appeal Court in Abuja.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was directed by lead Justice Elfrieda Williams-Dawodu to grant a Certificate of Return to Nentawe Goshwe, the candidate for the All Progressive Congress, in her decision on Sunday.
Judge Williams-Dawodu declared the Tribunal’s decision upholding Governor Mutfwang’s election to be incredibly incompetent and overturned it.
The court claims that Section 177 of the 1999 Constitution as amended and Section 134 (C) of the Electoral Act were violated by the tribunal’s decision to dismiss the petition filed by the APC and its candidate on the grounds that they had no business interfering with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on whose platform Mutfwang was elected.
The court further found that, in contrast to the tribunal’s ruling that the problems raised in the appellants’ petition were pre-election affairs, they were actually post-election matters as well and could not have been considered status barred.
The panel stated that Mutfwang was not legitimately supported by the PDP during the election, citing section 177 of the Constitution.
It concluded that by holding the congress in only five of the state’s 17 local government areas, the party had broken the court order requiring that a legitimate congress be held in all 17 local government areas, and as a result, the congress was void.
In contrast to the tribunal’s ruling that the appellant lacked the jurisdiction to challenge the respondent’s validity, the court held, dismissing the Plateau State Election Petitions Tribunal’s decision, that the qualification issue is both a pre-election and a post-election matter.
The court further pointed out that a political party’s exclusive right to support a candidate after fulfilling the prerequisites is stipulated in section 134 of the Electoral Act.
The court directed INEC to obtain the certificate of return given to Governor Mutfwang and provide a new certificate of return to the Goshwe, invoking section 136 of the Electoral Act.
Judge Okon Abang concurred with the ruling, stating that the PDP would continue to experience self-inflicted disaster as long as its problems in Plateau State remained unresolved.
