The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Tuesday affirmed the decision of the Plateau National and State Election Petitions Tribunal that Simon Lalong, the minister of labour and employment, is the winner of the Plateau South Senatorial District election held February 25, 2023.
In a unanimous judgement delivered by Justice Elfrieda Williams -Dawodu on the appeal filed by Nepoleon Binkap Bali, held that the tribunal was right in its decision.
She agreed with the tribunal that though the appellant (Bali) scored the majority of votes cast at the election,his scores were invalid because he was not a validly sponsored candidate.
The Court of Appeal said that the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) which purportedly sponsored Bali at the election has not obey a Plateau State High Court order in Rem.
The Court of Appeal also found that three separate judgements of the Court of Appeal in respect of the same status of the leadership of Plateau State PDP chapter have not being comply with.
She said the record of appeal, findings of the Tribunal below and three separate judgements of the court of appeal have pronounced on the illegality and the invalid actions of the party arising from non compliance of the said court order.
Two other justices on the panel, Justice Mohammed Mustapha and Justice Okon Abang agreed with the lead judgement.
Recall that the national and state election petitions tribunal sitting in Jos had on September 11, 2023 declared Simon Lalong, the minister of labour and employment, as the winner of the Plateau south district.
At the election the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Napoleon Bali, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as the winner of the election.
The commission had announced that Bali secured 148,844 votes while Lalong scored 91, 674 to come runner-up in the February 25 election.
But the faulty background robbed the PDP the electoral victory, as the Court of Appeal held that Bali’s appeal failed. It was consequently dismissed.