The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Sunday nullified the victory of Senate Minority Leader, Simon Mwadkwon, in the February 25 senatorial election in Plateau North.
The court ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct a fresh election within 90 days, according to The PUNCH.
This decision came as a result of the appeals filed by Chris Giwa of the All Progressives Congress and Gyang Zi of the Labour Party.
The appellants contested the decision of the National/State Election Petitions Tribunal in Jos, Plateau State, which had previously confirmed Mwadkwon of the Peoples Democratic Party as the legitimate winner of the senatorial election.
The key argument presented by Giwa and Zi was that Mwadkwon was not eligible to contest the election because the PDP did not possess a proper structure.
They contended that the PDP had failed to comply with a High Court order mandating the party to conduct a valid state congress.
Reading the lead judgment, Justice E. Daudu stated that the PDP had not fully complied with the High Court order since 12 local government areas did not participate in the party congress.
Justice Daudu said, “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.”
He further emphasized, “I agree with the appellant that the third respondent had no valid structure and could not have claimed to have validly nominated the second respondent (Mwadkwon) for the election.”
In light of these findings, the Appeal Court ruled in favor of the appellants, stating that the court order was not complied with, and thus ordered INEC to conduct a fresh senatorial election in Plateau North within 90 days.
