The senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Plateau Central in the last election, Amb. Yohanna Gotom, has rejected the judgment of the National and State House of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal, which upheld the election of Sen. Diket Plang of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the elected Senator of the Central Zone of the State.
Addressing newsmen in Jos, Plateau State, Ambassador Gotom said arrangements have been concluded to approach the Court of Appeal to recover his mandate.
“I won the election clearly with over 21,000 votes in the four local governments of the Plateau Central, namely Pankshin, Bokkos, Kanke, and Kanam, and Diket only won Mangu with only 3,000 votes, but I am surprised that the tribunal declared him the winner.
He expressed surprise at the ruling based on the grounds of his petition, noting that his lawyers have briefed him and he is challenging the ruling of the tribunal at the court of appeal.
Gotom explained that the issues of PDP structure in the state have been spelled out as a pre-election matter by the electoral act, confirmed by several recent court rulings, and have nothing to do with his election.
The PDP Plateau Central Senatorial Candidate had filed a petition on the ground of non-compliance with the electoral act, adding that the result commission (INEC) did not tally with what was obtained at some polling units in Gagdi ward of Kanam LGA.
It would be recalled that the Tribunal, led by Justice Muhammad Tukur, in its judgment, which was delivered through Zoom on Tuesday in Jos, dismissed the petition of Gotom for lack of merit.
The tribunal held that INEC has proved the results in its IRev, while the petitioners (Gotom and PDP) had failed to produce a contrary result from the INEC IRev, adding that “the results in the INEC IRev are reliable and readable.”
It further held that the petitioners were allowed to prove their case but failed to do so.
The court ruled that INEC did not flout the Electoral Act. The court further ruled that the results of the 34 polling units in the Gagdi ward, which the petitioner contested, were authentic.
. TheWitness
