The court of appeal has sacked Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
The Court sitting in Abuja also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to recognise Nentawe Goshwe, All Progressives Congress, APC as the validly elected governor of Plateau state in the March 18 governorship election.
According to Justice Elfrieda Williams- Dawodu while leading a three-man panel to deliver the lead judgment, Mutfwang was not validly sponsored by the PDP during the election.
The panel ruled that the party violated the court order that a valid Congress be conducted in all 17 local government areas of the state, and by conducting Congress in only 5 local government areas of the state, (the process of his emergence) is a nullity.
The court while dismissing the decision of Plateau state tribunal held that the issue of qualification is both a pre-election and a post-election matter contrary to the findings of tribunal which held that the appellant lacked the locus to contest the validity of the respondent.
Even more, the court averred that under section 134 of the electoral act it is the sole right of a political party to sponsor its candidate having met the necessary requirements to do so.
Therefore, while evoking section 136 of the electoral act, the court ordered INEC to retrieve the certificate of return issued to Governor Mutfwang and issue a fresh certificate of return to Goshwe.
Mutfwang had scored 525,299 votes while Goshwe polled 481,370 votes in the March 18 governorship election in the state.
It could be recalled that Goshwe challenged the election of Mutfwang at the tribunal claiming that the governor was not validly nominated and sponsored by his Party.
Equally, he claimed that the election of Mutfwang was not conducted in compliance with the electoral act and Mutfwang did not win the majority of lawful votes cast during the election.
However, a three-member panel of the tribunal headed by Justice R. Irele-Ifijeh, in a unanimous decision, dismissed the petition for lacking merit.
Not satisfied with the tribunal judgment, the APC candidate approached the appellate court challenging the decision.
He insisted that the governor was not qualified to have contested the election because he was not validly sponsored and nominated by a political party.
