Court Sacks Mutfwang As Plateau Governor

The Appeal Court in Abuja has sacked the Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang.

In her ruling on yesterday, the lead Justice, Elfrieda Williams-Dawodu, set aside the judgement of the Tribunal which affirmed the election of Governor Mutfwang, describing it as highly incompetent, and she ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue a Certificate of Return to the candidate of the All Progressive Congress, Mr. Nentawe Goshwe.

According to the court, the decision of the tribunal to dismiss the petition filed by the APC and its candidate on the ground that the duo had no business meddling in the affairs of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on which platform Mutfwang was elected, is in breach of Section 177 of the 1999 Constitution as amended and Section 134 (C) of the Electoral Act.

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The court also held that contrary to the decision of the tribunal that the issues contained in the petition filed by the appellants were pre-election matters, they were both pre-election and post-election matters and could not have been deemed status barred.

Citing section 177 of the Constitution, the panel noted that Mutfwang was not validly sponsored by the PDP during the election. It held that the party violated the court order that a valid congress be conducted in the 17 local government areas of that state, by conducting congress in only five local government areas of the state, and as such is a nullity.