Tribunal upholds Gov. ​Lalong’s election

The Plateau State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Jos, on Monday upheld the election of Simon Lalong as governor of Plateau State.

The Peoples Democratic​​ Party, PDP, candidate, Gyang Pwajok, had filed a petition challenging the victory of Mr. Lalong at the tribunal, alleging irregularities in the conduct of the April 11 governorship elections in the state.
Others joined in the petition were All Progressive Congress, APC, as second respondent and Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as 3rd respondent.

Delivering judgement on Monday, the chairman of the tribunal Justice Candide Johnson said Mr. Pwajok and his party failed to substantiate their allegations of “over-voting and intimidation of electorate” that were brought before the tribunal.

The tribunal chairman also noted the PDP failed to provide allegations of election malpractice against the APC in seven council areas of Mangu Pankshin, Jos North, Shendam, Wase, Jos East and Kanam.

The tribunal therefore struck out the petition of Mr. Pwajok and fined him the sum of N50,000.

The judgement, which began at 9:05 Monday morning, lasted for six and a half hour.

In the April 11 election, Mr. Lalong scored 564,913 votes, while the PDP candidate Mr. Pwajok, who is the immediate-past senator who represented Plateau North, polled 520,627 votes.