The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has nullified of the election of three members of the House of Representatives that emerged on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in Plateau State.
Those sacked by the court over their invalid nominations by the PDP, were Peter Gyendeng representing Barkin-Ladi/Riyom Federal Constituency; Musa Bagos representing Jos South/Jos East Federal Constituency and Beni Lar, who represented Langtang North/Langtang South Federal Constituency.
It held that the PDP acted in breach of a subsisting court order, when it sponsored them as its candidates for the National Assembly election held in the state on February 25.
According to the appellate court, the PDP ignored an order that was made in a suit directing the party to conduct fresh Congress involving all the 17 Local Government Areas in Plateau State.
The court noted that rather than complying with the order, the party proceeded to nominate the candidates that eventually won elections in their various constituencies.
Consequently, the appellate court upheld the verdict of the Justice Mohammed Tukur-led Plateau State National Assembly Elections Petition Tribunal, which earlier declared that since all the votes the PDP candidates garnered at the poll were wasted, candidates of other political parties that got the second majority votes, should take their place.
Meanwhile, the court awarded a cost of N2million against the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for filing appeals to challenge the judgement of the tribunal.
It held that the electoral body was not supposed to file an appeal in support of any candidate.
