October 22, (THEWILL) – The Court of Appeal, Abuja, has voided the election of the lawmaker representing Plateau North Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Simon Mwadkwon.
In a judgement on Sunday, a three-member panel of Justices, led by Elphreda Dawodu-Williams, voided the judgement of the Plateau State National and State Assembly Election Petition Tribunal, which affirmed the victory of Mwadkwon in the February 25 election for Plateau North Senatorial District.
The court held, among others, that the PDP had no valid candidate in the poll.
Consequently, Justice Dawodu-Williams, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to conduct a fresh election in the senatorial district within 90 days.
The judgement was on the appeals by Chris Giwa of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Gyang Zi of the Labour Party (LP).
Giwa and Zi had appealed against the judgement of the Plateau Elections Petitions Tribunal, which affirmed the victory of Mwadkwon in the February 25 National Assembly election held in Plateau North.
The appellants contended, among others, that Mwadkwon was not qualified to stand for an election because the PDP had no structure to nominate a candidate, having not complied with an earlier order by the state’s High Court for the party to conduct a proper state congress.
In the lead judgement on Sunday, 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.
“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.
