Appeal Court completes sack of PDP in Plateau with latest rulings on Mutfwang, others
Court of Appeal in Abuja’s invalidation of the election of Governor Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau State, in a judgement delivered, Sunday, appears to have completed the sacking of all legislators of the state and National Assembly elected under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from the state.
Governor of Plateau State, Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang
The latest Appeal Court ruling continues the trend of the past week which has seen over five lawmakers elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at state and national levels sacked from office.
Also, despite the latest ruling by the appellant court, Gov. Mutfwang will remain in office as he can approach the Supreme Court to appeal. The apex court is the final arbiter for governorship and presidential elections while the Court of Appeal is the final arbiter for legislative elections.
In a unanimous decision, the three-member panel ruled that Gov. Mutfwang was not sponsored by his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The court held that the appeal brought by Nentawe Goshwe of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was valid as the issue of qualification was both a pre and post-election matter under Section 177(c) of the Nigerian Constitution and Sections 80 and 82 of the Electoral Act, 2022.
The court ruled that the failure of the PDP to comply with the order of the Plateau State High Court in Jos directing it to conduct valid ward, local governments and state congresses before nominating its candidates for the various elective posts was a breach of the law.
Therefore, the court set aside the judgement of the Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal describing it as “highly inconsistent and breach of fair hearing by relying on expunged witnesses’ statements to refuse Goshwe’s appeal”.
The panel ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Gov. Muftwang and issue a fresh one to Mr Goshwe of the APC.
Also, on Sunday, the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, affirmed the sacking of Hon. Rimvjat Nanbol of the Peoples Democratic Party as the lawmaker representing Langtang Central State Constituency.
Nanbol had been sacked from the position by the National and State Houses of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal in September.
The tribunal declared Hon. Daniel Ninbol Listic of the Labour Party (LP) as winner of the state constituency election.
However, the PDP Lawmaker approached the appeal court for final redress.
In a unanimous Judgment of a three-man panel of the Court of Appeal read out by Justice Okong Abang, they agreed that the Tribunal was right when it held it had jurisdiction to seat over internal affairs of a political party with regards to non-qualification and issue of sponsorship.
Abang upheld the Tribunal’s finding that the structure of PDP had collapsed after the Plateau State High Court declared in a judgment that the party failed to conduct a valid primary/Congress involving delegates from the 17 LGAs of the state.
“It is my view that without complying with court, there was no party by the name PDP in the election.
“It is a joke taken too far” for a political party to disobey an order of court, Abang held.
The judge explained further that a court of law has jurisdiction to entertain a matter bordering on a political party especially if that party disobeys a subsisting order of a court.
“The appeal lacks merit and is accordingly dismissed. The judgment of the Tribunal is hereby affirmed,” Abang held, adding that the LP candidate remains the lawmaker representing the said Constituency at the Plateau House of Assembly.
Earlier, last week, the Court of Appeal in Abuja, had sacked the current Senate Minority Leader, Simon Mwadkwon, a Senator representing Plateau North on the platform of the PDP.
The three-member panel of the Court of Appeal in a unanimous judgment held 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 E. 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.
The same judgment was dished out for Bassa/Jos North Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives. This was because Labour Party came second for Senatorial election and the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) came second for Bassa/Jos North Election.
However, the case was different for Shendam/Quanpan/Mikang Federal Constituency where the PDP’s victory was nullified and the certificate of return withdrawn and handed over to APC candidate who won in one out of 32 Federal Wards.
It would recalled that at the conclusion of the state and national elections, the PDP won two senatorial and five House of Representatives seats, leaving APC with one senate seat and three Representatives seat.
The PDP equally won the Governorship Election in the state overwhelmingly with 16 members of the House of Assembly out of 24 seats.
Two panels of the petitions tribunal for February 25, National and the March 18 state Assembly elections respectively, delivered judgements separately in favour of the PDP that it complied with the court order and repeated the party congresses while another ruled that the party violated the court order and has no valid structure to sponsor candidates for the 2023 elections.
However, so far, the PDP has lost five Reps seats following Appeal Court judgements.
It would be recalled that last Monday, November 13, over 1,000 protesters stormed the Supreme Court to express their anger and concern over the sacking of elected officials of both the state and national Assembly sears in the state.
Armed with a protest letter that was submitted to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, the protesters under the aegis of Coalition for Justice in Africa (CJA), said their complaint is that the appellate court, by its various judgment, thwarted the wish of electorate in Plateau state, when it declared candidates who lost the National Assembly elections that held on February 25, as winners of the legislative seats.
National President of the CJA, Dr. Daniel Okwa, stated that the judgment of the appellate court was capable of causing a breakdown of law and order in the state while accusing some chieftains of the APC of influencing the judgments and therefore, seek the intervention of the CJN.
Meanwhile, the PDP in Plateau State has continued to insist that it prepared effectively for the 2023 elections to come out stronger and victorious from the shock of losing the 2015 and 2019 Governorship elections to the All Progressives Congress (APC) by putting in place the right and formidable party structure under the leadership of Hon. Chris Hassan.
The party said it carried out an in-house assessment after the 2019 General Elections and decided to conduct a fresh party congress in 2020, preparatory to the 2023 General Elections. At the congress, Hon. Chris Hassan defeated Hon. Bitrus Kaze to emerge the State Chairman of the party.
Hon. Kaze, who was dissatisfied with the outcome of the congress, challenged the emergence of Hassan as the PDP Chairman at the State High Court, Jos, where Justice Gang passed judgment in favour of Kaze and ordered for the repeat of the State Congress.
The National Secretariat of the PDP disbanded the Chris Hassan Committee and set up a Caretaker Committee headed by Sen. Tunde Ogbeha.
“Within this period, Plateau State Independent Electoral Commission (PLASIEC) had already released a time-table for the conduct of Local Government Elections in the state.
The National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP said it subsequently conducted its primary elections and came up with the party’s Chairmanship and Councilorship candidates and submitted same to PLASIEC ahead of the Local Government elections. PLASIEC carried out its constitutional responsibility by screening and clearing all the PDP candidates to participate in the election.
“However, Hon. Bitrus Kaze wrote to the PLASIEC leadership and demanded the disqualification of all PDP candidates from participating in the 2021 Local Government elections. The letter was honoured and PLASIEC disqualified all PDP candidates from participating in the said elections which paved way for all APC candidates to automatically emerge as Chairmen and Councillors across the 17 Local Government Areas.
“While the PDP dragged PLASIEC to court to challenge the disqualification of its candidates from participating in the local government elections, the NWC of the PDP, in compliance to the court order, set up a congress committee headed by His Excellency, Prince Olusola Akanmode, with Hon. Dr. Sha’aban Ohinoyi, Mrs Chioma Nnaji, Audu-War Mathias as members while Kabiru Magaji served as secretary of the congress committee.
“The Commissioner of Police, Plateau State Command, was notified, as he mobilized his men to provide security at the venue of the Congress. In addition, INEC witnessed, observed and monitored the repeated congress held at Langfield Event Centre, Rayfield, Jos, Plateau State on the 25th of September, 2021 and issued a Report to that effect.
“All the Plaintiffs/Judgment Creditors in the Suit, that is Hon. Bitrus Kaze and others, participated in the said congress held on September 25, 2021 which produced the current state Executive Committee headed by Hon. Chris Hassan, as Chairman of the Plateau State Chapter of the PDP.
“The Congress was conducted peacefully, without rancour whatsoever, and all the aspirants, inclusive of the Plaintiffs/Judgment Creditors (Bitrus Kaze) were given ample opportunity to participate in the State Congress and Bitrus Kaze accepted the outcome in good faith and congratulated Hon. Chris Hassan for emerging the new Chairman of the party.
“However, the State High Court, under Justice Kunda, entered Judgment in the PLASIEC case with PDP in favour of PLASIEC because there was no evidence before the court that the party had repeated the congresses in compliance with the Court order. The PDP proceeded to Appeal Court and after the repeat congress on September 25, 2021, the PDP withdrew its case at the Appeal Court.
“Since then, none of those who participated in the repeated congress, including Bitrus Kaze, or any other member of the party, challenged the outcome of the repeated congress, having accepted the result in good faith and congratulated the winner.
“At this point, PDP had a recognized and valid State Executive Committee of the party headed by Hon. Chris Hassan.
“The PDP, in its determination to take over power in 2023, commenced the preparation for the 2023 general election where the National Working Committee released the guidelines for the election of the three adhoc delegates which was conducted by the PDP North Central Vice Chairman, Hon. Theophilus Dakas Shan, with the exclusion of the State Executive Committee in line with the 2022 Electoral Act.
“The party conducted its primaries peacefully from the State House of Assembly, the National Assembly and the Governorship primaries which produced Governor Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang.
“His emergence as the PDP flag bearer brought a sigh of relief to Plateau people due to his competent and renewed commitment to drive the peace and unity of the state. To many, including some members of the opposition, his emergence marked the beginning of PDP taking over the state in 2023.
“Having put all these necessary structures in place, the PDP then boasted that as a law abiding and people- oriented party with human face in Plateau, it did what other political parties did not do by holding a state congress,” the party said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has alleged what it described as ‘judicial manipulations’ deployed by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Court of Appeal.
The rights group recalled previous instances where the Court of Appeal purportedly overturned victories of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Plateau State in favor of the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying the development has raised concerns about a potential coordinated effort to manipulate the judicial system.
HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiiko, in a statement, lst Wednesday, specifically pointed to cases such as the Plateau North Senatorial District, where Sen. Simon Mwadkwon of the PDP emerged victorious.
According to HURIWA, the Court of Appeal annulled the election and ordered a rerun for all the political parties. Similar scenarios unfolded in the Jos North/Bassa Federal Constituency and the Shendam/Quaan-Pan/Mikang Federal Constituency, where PDP candidates’ victories were nullified in favor of APC.
“In the case of Plateau North Senatorial District won by Sen. Simon Mwadkwon of the PDP and the APC candidate coming third, the Appeal Court Panel, in its judgment on Sunday, October 20, 2023, annulled PDP’s victory and ordered INEC to conduct a rerun among all the parties,” HURIWA said.
“In the case of Jos North/Bassa Federal Constituency won by Hon. Musa Agar of the PDP and where the APC candidate also came third, the Appeal Panel, in its judgment on Friday, October 14, 2023, annulled the victory of the PDP and ordered a rerun, excluding the PDP,” the statement continued.
“In the third Appeal Case of Shendam/Quaan-Pan/Mikang Federal Constituency, won by Hon. Isaac Kwallu of the PDP, with John Dafwan of the APC as runner-up, the Appeal Court Justices annulled the victory of the PDP candidate, declared the APC candidate as the outright winner,” the group added.
Expressing deep concern, HURIWA warned against what appears to be a coordinated effort by the Court of Appeal to issue contradictory judgments, favouring the APC at the expense of the PDP, due to the suspected link between President of Court of appeal, Hon. Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, and the former APC Governor, Simon Lalong, who got rewarded with a Senatorial seat by the same Court of Appeal, potentially causing chaos and commotion in Plateau State.
The rights group called on all stakeholders, including the judiciary, to uphold the principles of democracy and ensure that the will of the people prevailed. It urged Nigerians to remain vigilant and resist any attempts to subvert the democratic process.
In light of these allegations, HURIWA called for an immediate investigation into the conduct of the Court of Appeal, presided over by Hon. Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, as President, emphasizing the need for transparency and accountability to safeguard the integrity of the electoral process.
