January 12, (THEWILL) – The Supreme Court has declared Caleb Mutfwang of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the duly elected Governor of Plateau State.
The apex court set aside the ruling of the Court of Appeal, Abuja, which nullified the election of Mutfwang and declared Nentawe Yiltwatda of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as validly elected governor of Plateau State
The appellate Court had held that the PDP, which nominated Caleb Mutfwang as a candidate, had no structure at the time of his nomination.
The apex court, on Friday, in its lead judgement delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, described the ruling of the appellate court as perverse.
The court held that the issue of the primary election that produced Mutfwang was outside the jurisdiction of the lower court. It pointed out that the validity of nomination and sponsorship is not a valid ground to void an election.
According to the apex court, the lower court erred in its judgment since the petitioners not being members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PD) have no locus to challenge the party’s primary election.
On the issue of whether the order of the Plateau State High Court can affect the National Executive Committee (NEC), the apex court held that the appellate court was wrong in holding that the order affects the NEC.
Justice Agim further stated that the issue of primary is an internal matter of political parties, which both the Tribunal and Court of Appeal lacked jurisdiction.
The Court also pointed out that contrary to the claim of the petitioners and the judgment of the appellate court, the order of the Plateau High Court was not disobeyed by the PDP as evidence showed that a fresh primary was conducted.
He warned the legal profession to wake up or else it would render itself irrelevant to society.
The Presiding Justice, John Okoro, also lamented that a lot of people have suffered because of the wrongful judgments of the appellate court, which had sacked several legislators who won elections under the platform of the PDP.
In her submission, Justice Helen Ogunwumiju berated the appellate court for going into the issue of nomination and sponsorship despite several decisions of the apex court to the effect that another political party cannot challenge the primary election of another.
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