The Court of Appeal in Abuja has rendered the election victory of Senator Simon Mwadkwon, who represents the Plateau North Senatorial District, null and void.
A three-member panel of justices issued this ruling on Sunday, directing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a fresh election in the senatorial district within 90 days..
The decision was reached during the court’s judgment on an appeal brought forward by Chris Giwa of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Gyang Zi of the Labour Party (LP).
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Both Giwa and Zi had contested the verdict of the Plateau State Elections Petitions Tribunal in Jos, which had upheld Mwadkwon’s election under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The appellants had contended that Mwadkwon was not qualified to stand for an election as his party, the PDP, which nominated him during the election, had no structure to do so, having not complied with an earlier high court order for the party to conduct a proper state congress.
Justice A Williams-Daudu, who read the lead judgment of the appellate court, held that the high court order was not fully complied with by the PDP as 12 LGAs didn’t participate in the said congress.
“To avoid anarchy, I agree with the appellants that the court must protect an order of another court,” she said.
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“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 is hereby ordered to conduct another senatorial election in Plateau North within 90 days,” the judge ruled.