From Christiana Gokyo, Jos
The Plateau North Senatorial district petition for a rerun election filled by Chris Giwa of the APC against the election of Senator Pam Mwadkon Dachungyang has been dismissed.
This morning, the Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Bauchi dismissed the petition on Wednesday and declared Prince Pam Mwadkon Dachungyang as validly elected at the Rerun Elections conducted by INEC in February this year.
Our correspondent reports that a 3-panel Judge led by Hon. Justice Cordelia Ogadi unanimously dismissed the petition for lacking in merit and affirmed Senator Mwadkwon as the winner of the election.
The Triumph gathered that Chirs Giwa, who emerged in third position, was not satisfied with the declaration of Sen. Mwadkwon by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the rerun election conducted on 3rd February 2024 for Plateau Northern Senatorial district, approached the Tribunal to seek for redress.
In his prayers to the Tribunal, he urged the Tribunal to declare votes gained by Sen. Mwadkwon and ADP,, that is 1st and 2nd respondents,s, as well as Mohammad Shafiu and New Nigeria People’s Par, ty, to the 3rd and 4th respondents during the elect, ion, as invalid votes.
According to him, the Appeal Court judgment delivered on the 22nd of October 2023, dismissed former Sen. Minority Leader Simon Mwadkwon and ordered a rerun election to limit participation for political parties.
While saying that, the 1st to 4th respondents, as at the time of the rerun election held on 3rd February 2024, were not qualified to contest as they were not a party to the Appeal Court judgment; hence they cannot be beneficiaries.
He said, the 5th respondent (INEC) had err to the ruling of the Appeal Court and went ahead to include 1st to 4th respondents in the rerun election.
The petitioners prayed the Tribunal to declare votes accrued to the 1st to 4th respondents as wasted votes. INEC should withdraw the certificate of return from Sen.Pam Dachungyang Mwadkwon and issue it to Chris Giwa as the authentic winner of the election.
The Tribunal, in its judgement, held that the petitioners failed to prove the grounds of their pleadings, saying that there are no facts backing their pleadings.
The evidence available before the Tribunal shows that both the 1st and 4th respondents participated in the 2023 general elections, and going by the judgment of the Appeal Court, which stated that ‘all parties here in’, there is no segment of political party apart from PDP.
“The petition is hereby dismissed for lack of merit and affirmed Sen. Pam Dachungyang Mwadkwon as the winner of Plateau North Senatorial district rerun election held on the 3rd February 2024 by Justice Ogadi,” Court.
The Tribunal also ordered petitioners to pay the sum of N300,000 to the 3rd respondent.