In a judgment on Sunday, the Court of Appeal, led by Justice
Elphreda Williams-Dawodu, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission
to withdraw the Certificate of Return given to Governor Caleb Mutfwang of
Plateau State.
The court declared Nentawe Goshwe of the All Progressives
Congress the rightful winner of the March 18 governorship election, ordering
INEC to issue a new Certificate of Return to him.
Courts have sacked at least three governors whose
elections were contested by opposing parties and deemed one election
inconclusive, barely nine months after the elections.
The following is a list of sacked state governors and the grounds given by the court:
- Abba
Kabir Yusuf (NNPP)
The NNPP received 1,019,602 votes to defeat the APC, whose
candidate, Nasir Gawuna, received 890,705 votes, according to INEC. As a
result, the NNPP candidate won by a margin of 128,897 votes.
The Election Petitions Tribunal, under the leadership of
Justice Oluyemi Osadebay, invalidated the election of Governor Yusuf. The tribunal
made this decision by declaring 165,663 votes, garnered by Yusuf
invalid.
The ballot papers for the 165,663 votes were not signed or
stamped, according to the judge, and thus were invalid.
The court ordered that Yusuf’s certificate of return be revoked
and that a fresh one be issued to Gawuna.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja also upheld the tribunal’s
decision.
The three-member panel, led by Justice M.A Adumeh,
determined that Yusuf was not on his political party’s membership list.
He stated that a party must hold the names of its registered
members in both hard and soft copies, citing a clause of the Electoral Act.
The judge stated that the tribunal erred in failing to
disqualify Yusuf in its ruling.
“The tribunal was wrong not to have disqualified him. The
failure to comply with Section 177(c) is fatal to their election. . Where a
party carelessly nominates a candidate such is a nullity irrespective of
whether he performs well. Sponsorship without membership is like putting
nothing on something, it cannot stand. This is a clear example of acting with
brazen impunity as if the Constitution is not binding,” he held.
Yusuf has, however, vowed to reclaim his mandate at the
Supreme Court.
- Abdullahi
Sule (APC)
The Nasarawa State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal
sacked the state governor, Abdullahi Sule, in October and ordered INEC to
revoke his Certificate of Return and give it to David Ombugadu of the PDP.
Ombugadu had taken Sule to court to contest INEC’s
announcement of Sule as the winner of the election.
He told the tribunal that his actual votes were unfairly
lowered while Sule of the APC’s votes were boosted to help him win,
notably in the EC8Bs of Gayam and Chiroma Wards of Lafia Local Government Area.
The tribunal, led by Justice Ezekiel Ajayi, in its decision
deducted the incorrect votes added to Sule and added back the votes which were
reduced from the overall votes of David Ombugadu. This decision was based on
the certified copies of the polling units results (forms EC8A) that were
presented by the petitioners.
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Wednesday, November
15, reserved judgment on the appeal.
- Dauda
Lawal (PDP)
INEC had declared Dauda Lawal of the PDP as the winner of
the Zamfara State governorship election, defeating the incumbent governor,
Bello Matawalle of the APC.
Matawalle had filed a case with the tribunal contesting the
results of the governorship election on March 18, but it was dismissed due to
lack of merit.
The Court of Appeal issued its decision on Thursday,
November 16, declaring the election inconclusive and ordering INEC to hold new
elections in two local governments.
According to the appellate court, Matawalle, who is
currently the Minister of State for Defence, was able to establish Lawal’s
invalid election.
The governor, in a statement by his spokesperson, Sulaiman
Idris, said his legal team was reviewing the judgment before taking the next
necessary action.
- Caleb
Mutfwang (PDP)
Nentawe Goshwe of the APC challenged the victory of Caleb
Mutfwang at the tribunal, claiming that the governor was not validly nominated
and sponsored by his party.
A three-member panel of the tribunal headed by Justice R.
Irele-Ifijeh, in a unanimous decision, dismissed the petition of Goshwe for
lacking merit.
The three-member panel of the Court of Appeal led by Justice
Elfrieda Williams-Dawodu ruled on Sunday, November 19, that the governor was
not legitimately sponsored by the PDP for the election, citing Section 177 of
the Constitution.
The judge pointed out that the PDP failed to adhere to a
standing High Court order, which mandated the party to organise a legitimate
party congress before endorsing candidates for the governorship and other
positions.
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