Court sacks PDP Rep in Plateau

The National and States Assembly Elections Petition Tribunal sitting in Jos, Plateau State, on Friday, nullified the election of Musa Aggah, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party representing the Bassa/Jos-North Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives.

The tribunal held that Aggah was not validly nominated by the PDP for the bye-election conducted on February 26, 2022.

Aggah was declared the winner of the Jos North/Bassa Federal constituency bye-election held on February 27, by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

He had polled a total of 40,343 votes to emerge the winner. He was closely followed by the Peoples Redemption Party’s candidate, Mohammed Gwani, who polled 37,857 votes, while the ruling All Progressives Congress candidate, Joseph Aku, who came a distant 3rd, scored 26,111 votes.

The tribunal on Friday, in a consensus judgement led by its chairman, Justice Hope Ozoh, and others, Justices Khadi Umar and Zainab Bashir, held that the petitioners had proved their case against Aggah beyond reasonable doubt.

The tribunal also declared that Aggah did not score the highest valid votes in the election.

It also ordered INEC to return Mohammed Gwani of the Peoples Redemption Party as the valid winner of the February 26, 2022 bye-election.