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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has suffered fresh woes in Plateau State as the Court of Appeal sacked 11 lawmakers elected on the party’s platform from the State House of Assembly.
The appellate court's three-member panel led by Justice Okon Abang passed a unanimous decision on Friday, November 24, 2023, ruling that all the sacked legislators amassed wasted votes in the March 18 contest because their party lacked structure.
The court stressed that the PDP was not eligible to field candidates for the election in question because it violated Section 177 of the 1999 Constitution.
By this virtue, the panel declared all the second-placed candidates and parties in the election as winners.
Consequently, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has now overtaken the PDP as the party in control of the state assembly.
The development is another hit in the long line of misfortunes that have befallen the Plateau PDP in recent times. On Sunday, November 19, 2023, the Appeal Court sitting in Abuja nullified the victory of the state governor, Caleb Mutfwang, over the same infraction by the party.
The appellate court set aside the decision of the Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal that affirmed Muftwang's victory, saying that the governor was not validly sponsored by the PDP as provided by Section 285(2) of the Nigerian Constitution.
The judgement also held that the PDP violated a Plateau State High Court order directing it to conduct a valid congress in 17 local government areas of the state before nominating candidates for various elective positions.
Before then, the Appeal Court, in separate judgements, had sacked two PDP senators and four House of Representatives members in Plateau State over the same matter.