A contingent of Nigeria Police Force personnel has been deployed to maintain order around the Appeal Court in Abuja ahead of today’s judgment in the Plateau governorship election appeal case.
The appeal was filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Nentawe Goshwe, challenging the declaration of Caleb Mutfwang of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the March 18, 2023 election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Mutfwang of the PDP the winner of the gubernatorial election with 525,299 votes, while Goshwe was credited with 481,370 votes.
Goshwe subsequently petitioned the Election Tribunal, alleging irregularities in the conduct of the PDP primaries and seeking to nullify Mutfwang’s election.
However, the Tribunal dismissed the petition, ruling that it lacked merit.
Undeterred, Goshwe appealed the Tribunal’s decision to the Appeal Court, requesting that the Tribunal’s judgment be overturned.
The APC’s legal team argued that Mutfwang’s candidacy was invalid due to flaws in the PDP’s primaries.
However, Mutfwang’s lawyers countered that the APC’s claims were unsubstantiated and lacked merit.
A three-member panel of the Appeal Court, led by Justice Elfrieda Williams-Dawodu, has scheduled the delivery of its judgment for today, Sunday.
The heightened security measures around the Appeal Court come in the wake of a recent ruling by the court that sacked three PDP lawmakers from Plateau State for emerging from an invalid party congress.
