Mutfwang Celebrates Victory, Lauds Tribunal
The governor of Plateau State, Caleb Mutfwang, praised the Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal’s decision to confirm his victory in the March 18 election and asserted that the judiciary had spoken with a unified voice.
Empire had reported the judgment handed down on Friday by the three-member panel in its unanimous ruling, concluded that the petitioner had failed because it lacked merit.
Meanwhile, Mutfwang had described the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s petition which challenged his electoral victory as mischievous, a waste of time and energy. He stated this during his appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
He said, “You would recall that before, some of my state and National Assembly members were thrown out supposedly for lack of structure by the PDP.
“Panel 1 had already upheld the election of the Senate minority leader and other members of the National Assembly because ab initio, to anybody genuine, to anybody who is fair, anybody who is honest, he knows that leg of the petition by the APC and any other party for that matter is not only mischievous, it is simply a waste of time and energy because they know the truth.
“I want to assure you that the cases are there for anybody to see and what the petitioners have done is what the tribunal has rightly called in line with precedent that they were nothing but meddlesome interlopers and I’m glad that today the judiciary has spoken with a strong voice.”
The governor who also spoke on the judgment that sacked some PDP lawmakers in the state due to lack of structure in the party, said that the judges will have to respond to the ruling as the case moves to appeal.
He pointed out that the Supreme Court had established a precedent that stated that one party could not intervene in the internal affairs of the other party where those matters involved the nomination of candidates prior to an election.
Governor Mutfwang exudes confidence that the panel’s decision to dismiss the PDP lawmakers will be overturned by the higher courts. He firmly believes that the petition is tantamount to an “abuse of court process and a violation of established precedent.”
