The Court of Appeal in Abuja has invalidated the election of Simon Mwadkwon, the senator representing Plateau North Senatorial District in the National Assembly.
Mwadkwon holds the position of the minority leader in the Senate.
A three-member panel at the Appellate Court has ruled that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) must organize a fresh election in the district within 90 days.
The appeal was submitted by Chris Giwa of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Gyang Zi of the Labour Party (LP).
They contested the judgment of the petitions tribunal.
The appellants argued that Mwadkwon was not eligible to run in the election due to the PDP’s failure to comply with a previous order issued by a Plateau High Court in 2020.
In its verdict, the Appellate Court concurred that the high court order had not been fully adhered to by the PDP since 12 local government areas (LGAs) did not participate in the party congress mentioned in the order.
“The court made total findings with regard to the issue in focus,” the court held.
“To avoid anarchy, I agree with the appellants that the court must protect an order of another court.
“I agree with the appellant that the third respondent had no valid structure and could not have claimed to have validly nominated the second respondent (Mwadkwon) for the election.
“Given the findings of this court, the appeal, therefore, succeeds as the court order was not complied with.
“The first respondent is hereby ordered to conduct another senatorial election in Plateau North within 90 days.”