Appeal Court sacks Caleb Mutfwang as Plateau governor

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

The court also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the Certificate of Return issued to him.

The commission had earlier declared Mutfwang of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the March 18 election after he polled 525,299 votes to defeat his All Progressives Congress (APC) rival, Nentawe Goshwe, who garnered 481,370 votes in the exercise.

The APC candidate, thereafter, challenged the INEC declaration over Mutfwang’s eligibility for the election.

He claimed that the governor was not validly nominated by his party for the poll.

READ ALSO: Appeal Court declares Simon Lalong winner of Plateau South election

However, a three-member panel of the state election petition tribunal led by Justice R. Irele-Ifijeh, in its September 22 ruling dismissed the petition for lack of merit.

Dissatisfied with the verdict, Goshwe approached the appeal court to set it aside.

In Sunday’s proceeding, the three-member panel of the appellate court led by Justice Elfrieda Williams-Dawodu, held that Mutfwang was not validly nominated for the election by PDP.

Williams-Dawodu, who read the judgement, faulted the party for snubbing a court order on the conduct of a valid congress in the 17 local government areas of that state.

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