The inter party wrangling in Plateau state may have just started as the People’s Democratic Party takes steps to address appeal court judgment of error that sacked its lawmakers.
Recall that three federal lawmakers and eleven state lawmakers were earlier unseated from office following an appeal court judgment that voided their elections for failure of a party structure in the state.
With the recent Supreme Court judgment that restored the election of the ousted governor of the state Caleb Mutfwang who also participated in the party primaries that saw the election of the sacked lawmakers, the political tussle in the state may have just taken a different twist.
Reacting on the matter, counsel for the PDP during the lower court judgment, Emeka Etiaba, SAN, who appeared on Arise News Morning Show on Tuesday 16 January 2024, noted that the Appeal Court judges acted on a wrong jurisdiction by sacking the Plateau lawmakers.
Commending the Supreme Court for getting it right in correcting the perceived injustice done to the sacked lawmakers, the Senior Advocate of Nigeria, revealed that petition would not restore the mandate of the sacked lawmakers after the appeal court judgment.
He added that the party would look for a feasible means to restore the mandate of the sacked lawmakers. Etiaba who earlier asked the lower court to strike out grounds 1 and 8 of the Appellant’s grounds of appeal that adduced to Mutfwang’s lack of competence, argued that the governor emerged as gubernatorial flag-bearer of the PDP, through a validly conducted primary election as duly monitored by INEC.
While calling on INEC to live up to its expectation especially during general election where the pressure is always intense, Etiaba maintained that no matter the success of an election, petitions cannot be ruled out after its conduct.