Nigeria’s Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Sunday sacked Plateau State governor, Barrister Caleb Muftwang and declared the Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC winner of the election.
The judgment which was delivered by the three-man panel submitted that the governor who contested on the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP was not validly nominated by his party to contest the election.
Citing Section 285(2) of the Constitution, the Justices said, there was a contravention that rendered the nomination of Muftwang nugatory.
In light of the infractions on the Constitution, the panel upheld the appeal instituted by the rival All Progressives Congress, Nentawe Goshwe as the issue of qualification was both a pre and post election matter under Section 177(c) of the Nigerian Constution,1999 and Section 80 and 82 of the Electoral Act, 2022.
The panel agreed with the appellant (Goshwe) that the failure of the PDP to comply with the order of the Plateau State High Court in Jos in suit no: PLD/J304/2020 between Bitrus B. Kaze & 11 ors vs the Peoples Democratic Party & 24 ors directing it to conduct valid ward, local governments and state congresses before nominating its candidates for the various elective posts and the Court of Appeal order in CA/J1/93/2021 was a breach of the law.
The panel set aside the judgement of the Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal for being “highly inconsistent and breach of fair hearing by relying on expunged witnesses’ statements to refuse Goshwe’s appeal”.
The panel ordered Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Muftwang and issue a fresh one to Goshwe.
