THE National Assembly Elections Tribunal in Jos, Plateau State’s capital, has confirmed the return of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidates for the House of Representatives and Senate seats.
Musa Agah’s election as member representing Jos North/Bassa Federal Constituency was upheld due to the inability of the petitioner, Mohammed Gwani of People’s Redemption Party (PRP), to prove allegations of electoral misconduct involving over voting, nomination, and sponsorship of the winner.
In the other case, the appeal for Plateau North Senatorial seat filed by Gyang Zi of the Labour Party (LP) against Simon Mwadkwon of the PDP was dismissed for lack of merit.
The two petitions were decided on two issues: whether both PDP candidates were entitled to run in the elections on February 25, 2023, and whether the elections were conducted in significant compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.
In deciding the problems, the panel found unanimously on the two petitions that only party members or the party itself had locus standi to contest a candidate’s nomination and sponsorship. Furthermore, the nomination and sponsorship of party candidates are pre-election issues.
On the issue of overvoting, the tribunal unanimously agreed that the petitioners failed to prove the truth or falsity of the election results by bringing witnesses who had no connection with the elections or any documents that could not be proven without presenting the voters’ register.
As a result, the petitions were dismissed without merit and without costs.
Comments are closed.