Supreme Court will grant Mutfwang, Lawal victories – PDP
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says it is hopeful that the Supreme Court will reverse the sackings of Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang, and his Zamfara State counterpart Dauda Lawal.
The Court of Appeal, in separate suits, nullified Mutfwang’s and Lawal’s electoral victories, while it ordered that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to return their All Progressives Congress challengers as the actual winners of the two elections.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Bala Mohammed, governor of Bauchi State and chairman of the PDP’s Governors’ Forum, said the governors’ sackings were “temporary setbacks”.
Despite the court verdicts, the opposition party said it trusted the judiciary “to do justice”.
He said, “We believe that the Supreme Court will do justice in the cases where we recorded temporary setbacks like Zamfara and Plateau States.”
The forum also it supports “the decision of INEC to investigate the allegation of existence of pre-filled result sheets” during the Kogi, Bayelsa, and Imo States elections.
TheCornet had reported the Court of Appeal verdicts sacking Mutfwang and Lawal. The Court equally sacked Kano State Governor Abba Yussuf, while resolving the three suits in favour of the All Progressives Congress.
In the case of Mutfwang, the court ruled that his party defied a court order directing it to conduct congresses in 17 local government areas of the state. The court then declared APC’s candidate Nentawe Goshwe as the winner of the poll.
In his own case, Governor Lawal is to face a rerun in selected wards, while Governor Yussuf lost his position after the court invalidated over 100,000 votes due to over-voting. The court, instead, declared Yussuf’s challenger Nasir Gawuna as the duly elected governor of the state.
