Appeal Court sacks Senate Minority Leader, Mwadkwon

The Abuja division of the Court of Appeal has invalidated the victory of Senate Minority Leader, Simon Mwadkwon, in the February 25 Plateau North senatorial election. The Court of Appeal has directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to organize a fresh election within 90 days.

This ruling was handed down in response to appeals filed by Chris Giwa of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Gyang Zi of the Labour Party (LP).

Both Giwa and Zi had challenged the judgment of the National/State Election Petitions Tribunal in Jos, Plateau State, which had previously upheld Mwadkwon of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the rightful winner of the senatorial election.

Their argument centered on Mwadkwon’s eligibility to contest the election due to concerns about the PDP’s internal structure. They contended that the PDP had not fully complied with a High Court order, as 12 local government areas did not participate in the party congress.

Justice E. Daudu, delivering the lead judgment, determined that the PDP’s compliance with the High Court order was insufficient. He noted that “the third respondent had no valid structure and could not have claimed to have validly nominated the second respondent (Mwadkwon) for the election.”