Honourable Justice Bond Ngyou of the Plateau State High Court, Pankshin Division, has dismissed a suit seeking to nullify the Chris Hassan-led executive committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Plateau State.
In suit No: PLD/P36/2021 filed by Muhammed Abdulwahab, for himself and the Gumshar Ward exco, the plaintiffs sought seven reliefs and three orders, including an order to set aside the congresses conducted by the PDP and election of Hassan and his exco.
According to counsel to the defendants, some of the salient points in the judgment are that while both counsel in the suit agreed that the matter falls under pre-election matters, the court was of the view that it does not and cannot be classified as pre-election matter for the following reasons:
“The law is clear that pre-election matters are all matters that are filed by candidates, unless and until the plaintiff is a candidate emerging from the conduct of primary election or the defendant is a candidate emerging from same.
“The suit was primarily challenging the process and conduct of party congresses, which is strictly an internal affair of a political party. Neither the plaintiff nor the defendant was a candidate, thus the matter does not have the status of a pre-election matter.”
According to him, until and unless the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court decides otherwise, the decision of the court remains the law.
