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JUDE OWUAMANAM examines the implication of the ruling of the Plateau State National Assembly election petition tribunal in the election of Senate Minority Leader and senator representing Plateau North, Simon Mwadkom and his counterpart in the lower chamber, Musa Agam, of the Bassa/Jos North Federal constituency seat on the suit filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) against the election of Governor Caleb Mutfwang.
Last Thursday, the National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Jos, the Plateau State capital, delivered judgments on two elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission in what many observers see as what could be the major determinant in the eventual judicial victory of Governor Caleb Mutfwang in his legal tango with the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) over the 2023 gubernatorial election..
The first was on the petition filed by the Labour Party candidate for the Plateau North senatorial election, Gyang Yaya Zi, against the election of the senator representing Plateau North, Simon Mwadkon, and the second was the petition filed by Adamu Muhammad Alkali of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) against the election of Musa Agah of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the House of Representatives election for Jos North/Bassa Federal Constituency.
The crux of the two petitions was that both Mwadkwon and Agah were not qualified to vie for the election as they were not validly nominated by their party, the PDP. The petitioners had contended that the process that produced the duo as their party’s candidates were flawed because PDP as at the time of the nomination did not have what could be said to have constituted as a valid state executive council. In other words, the petitioners had averred in the petitions that the ruling party, which was then in opposition had no structure to have produced candidates for the 2023 general elections at all levels.
During the hearings, the petitioners had canvassed that for the fact that the PDP had a tumultuous state exco, which was not validly elected at any state congress, any candidate the exco presented for the 2023 election could not have been said to be so validly nominated.
The petitioners, in their thinking, are hoping for a replay of the Zamfara scenario where the apex court sacked all the elected officials of the APC because the party did not have a lawful exco that conducted the primary election that produced the candidates for the 2019 general elections.
However in his lead judgment on Thursday, Justice Mohammed had held that the petitioners, the senatorial candidate of the Labour Party, Gyang Zhi, and his party, lacked the locus standi to challenge the nomination and sponsorship of Senator Simon Mwadkon because they (the petitioners) did not take part in the primary election of PDP, the party which sponsored him in the election.
In the case of representative Musa Agah, the tribunal, among other reasons held that its responsibility was to determine whether or not the respondent was an independent candidate, and if he was actually sponsored by a political party and not to concern itself with whether the party had a structure as at the time of the nomination and sponsorship of a candidate.
The tribunal equally held that only party members or the party itself have the locus standi to challenge the nomination and sponsorship of a candidate, stressing that besides that, the issue of the nomination and sponsorship of a party candidate is a pre-election matter.
Since the verdict, supporters of the ruling party have been gloating that since the tribunal had somewhat dealt a death blow to the issue of party structure, upon which the petitioners want the election of PDP officials nullified, it stands to reason that Governor Mutfwang may be inching forward to a judicial victory in the suit filed by the APC and its governorship candidate, Dr. Nentawe Yilwatda against his (Mutfwang’s) declaration by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Among other contentions, Yilwatda, in his filed 400-page petition against Mutfwang and INEC, predicated his petition among other grounds that the governor was not qualified to contest the election and should be disqualified for “non-compliance” with the Electoral Act.
However, members of the opposition party are telling their counterparts in PDP that it’s not yet time for tea party.
In their first reaction to the tribunal ruling, the APC described the victory as “Pyrrhic” and pleaded to be left out of it.
APC State Publicity Secretary, Sylvanus Namang, in a statement, described the PDP party dance as “comedy and self-consolation.”
The statement said, “The APC thinks it amounts to an expedition in self-deception for the PDP to start pre-empting the outcome of other judgments which are yet to be passed by the Tribunals, especially Gubernatorial Election Petition Tribunal between APC’s Dr Nentawe Yilwatda Goshwe and PDP’s Caleb Mannasseh Mutfwang.”
“What happened today was a familiar path the PDP and the PRP had passed through in the past. While we cannot mourn more than the bereaved, what happened at the Tribunal today is not the end of the Story as it is only a step with a greater hurdle to cross at the Court of Appeal which is a very critical element in our Electoral Process,” the statement further said.
APC reminded PDP that the ruling was only that between LP and PRP and had no bearing on its own petition.
But a PDP party stalwart, Mr. Isaac Wadak, while commenting on the judgment, said what the court pronounced was an issue of judicial precedent, which had been dealt with by other courts in the land, while another stalwart, Bitrus Yilkudi Golen, said that everything about PDP structure has been sealed and delivered; buried and put to rest.
Wadak said, “This issue has already been settled by several judgments by the court of the land. The petitioners, to me, just went on an adventure to perhaps test the judiciary to see if they would upturn a policy already established by previous decisions on similar cases.”
Mutfwang’s spokesman, Gyang Bere, in his own reaction, was optimistic that with the outcome of the tribunal judgment, his boss may be inching to a judicial victory at last.
Bere said, “From the onset, we had told Plateau people that PDP has valid structures but some people insisted that the party has no structure, but we have been vindicated by the tribunal on the two judgments delivered today. (Thursday)
“It is pertinent to note that all the political parties that are challenging the victory of the PDP had premised their cases on the same ground that PDP does not have structure but we are optimistic that with God on our side, we will come out very strong and stronger ahead.”
A university and immediate director general of documentation in the Office of former Governor Simon Lalong, Prof John Wade, would rather want to see the governorship tribunal arrive at its decision based on the pieces evidence canvassed by both the petitioners and respondents.
When asked if he thinks that the ruling in the National Assembly, would somehow affect that of the governorship, Wade said, “Not necessary as the grounds, presentations and defence witnesses are of different dimensions. There are slightest omissions and commissions in handling legal cases both on the side of plaintiff and defendant that influence the technicalities of final verdict. These exclude other pecuniary considerations.
However, Mr Bitrus Kaze, a member of the PDP, who started it all, asked his party men not to rejoice yet.
Kaze had challenged the emergence of Chris Hassan-led exco when he contested the PDP chairmanship position in 2020. In a suit, No: PLD/J304/2020 Between: Bitrus B. Kaze & 11 Ors V. Peoples Democratic Party & 24 Ors) the plaintiff had sought the court to order for the proper conduct of another election for the Executive Committee in line with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution, the Electoral Act and the PDP Constitution. The plaintiffs had contended that the party congresses that produced Hassan did not follow the Constitution, the Electoral Act and the Guidelines of the Party.
Kaze said that despite the court ruling in his favors, it did nothing to remedy itself.
Reacting to the tribunal judgment, Kaze said, I have not seen the contents of the judgment itself to make a conclusion and I have not read anywhere where the judge made allusion to the fact that the PDP had a structure or not in the two judgments.
“Again, irrespective of what happened yesterday, we know for sure that there are many court judgments that had taken position, including court judgments. So much as people in PDP are rejoicing over the judgment, it is not enough at the moment that it is the case that PDP has a valid structure. The court may not speak categorically because there are other court judgments pending.
“And then what is in any court case is that a judge is only able to decide his matter based on evidence presented before the court. So we can’t say for sure the issues canvassed are the same. I saw the issue of nomination, qualification and you really cannot say whether the judge took position on structure as per the judgment of yesterday in my own understanding.
“But what I want to say is that when I started this struggle of whether the PDP has a structure or not, none of the present political gladiators was in contention. Neither Tinubu, Nentawe nor Mutfwang was in contention for any of the positions they are holding today. I started this struggle to assert my right to contest the PDP chairmanship three years ago. And when the court ruled in my favour that PDP had no structure, it made no effort to remedy itself prior to the emergence of Mutfwang as its flag bearer for the 2023 general election. What you should also understand, the party itself acknowledged that it had no structure in Plateau when the Chris Hassan led exco was prevented from voting at the Makurdi convention.”
A legal practitioner, who preferred anonymity, said that the NASS and governorship election cases are different as they are between two different tribunals.
He said, “Mutfwang’s case is in a different panel and the addresses have not been filed not to talk of adoption. No one except pretenders can tell you which way other cases will go. Even for the ones delivered today, (Thursday) that’s not the end of the story as there is still the Court of Appeal. Have you not heard appellate courts reversing lower court’s judgments?”
He however went philosophical. “Plateau politics and issues have been so polluted that most people are no longer thinking rationally including elders, traditional and religious leaders and even journalists.
In fact, the whole country is in a mess. People no longer cherish old values of honesty, ethics etc. People now worship money and no institution in Nigeria is immune. Chinua Achebe saw it all and summarized it as ‘There was a country’ in the last book he wrote before he departed.
“Some fools gloat when they define events as ‘we have won’ and so on but they are not looking at the bigger picture.
“I am privileged to have been a player both in government and opposition at state and national levels. By God’s grace, I am also an intellectual apart from being not only a practicing lawyer practicing at the highest level and belonging to the highest bodies in the legal profession have afforded me the clarity to critically look at our situation. Unlike others, the weight of what I see and know worry me.”
