Tribunal dismisses petition challenging Senate minority leader’s election

The National Assembly Elections Petitions Tribunal sitting in Jos on Thursday dismissed the petition challenging the victory of Senate Minority Leader, Simon Mwadkon, in the February 25 election in Plateau North.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on February 27 declared Mwadkon as the winner of the election ahead of the Labour Party candidate, Gyang Zi.

The LP candidate had in the petition alleged that Mwadkon was not validly nominated by PDP because the party had no valid structure in the state.

The petitioner described the minority leader’s victory in the election as a violation of the electoral act.

Justice Mohammed Mohammed, who delivered the judgement, said that the petitioner’s case lacked merit and dismissed it accordingly.

READ ALSO: PLATEAU: Tribunal sacks APC council chairman, declares PDP candidate winner

He said the evidence and exhibits tendered by the petitioner were purely pre-election matters which should not be brought before a tribunal.

The judge said the only person qualified to challenge a political party’s nomination must be a member of that party.

He said: “The petitioners are not members of the respondent political party and do not have the ground to challenge the nomination and sponsorship of a candidate.

“I hereby rule that the ground has failed; it is incompetent and is hereby dismissed.

“On the issue of violation of electoral act, which is the second ground of the petition, the witnesses could not prove that and as such the petition failed totally and is hereby dismissed.”

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