Supreme Court affirms Patrick Dakum as Plateau Labour Party governorship candidate

At Supreme CourtWednesday, upheld the nomination of Patrick Dakum as the governorship candidate of the Labor Party for Plateau State.

The governorship and state Assembly elections were held on Saturday, March 18.

LP gubernatorial candidate, Yohanna Margif, challenged Mr. Dakum’s candidacy.

But a five-member Supreme Court panel led by John Okoro dismissed Mr. Margif’s appeal on the grounds that the suit was barred by law after Mr. Margif’s lawyer, Opeyemi Ojo, withdrew it.

Mr. Ojo prayed the panel to invoke section 22 of the Supreme Court Act to hear and determine disputes in the interest of justice.

But rejecting Mr. Ojo’s plea, the panel said the conditions before the court to invoke section 22 of the Supreme Court Act were not met.

This informed Mr. Ojo that the Court of Appeal and the Federal High Court no longer have jurisdiction over the Supreme Court since the time to be heard has expired.

Pre-election cases must be heard and decided within 180 days from the time the suit is filed in the Federal High Court to the terminal point in the High Court.

Faced with the fact that he was late in filing, Mr. Ojo announced his withdrawal from his appeal which was later attacked by Mr. Okoro.

Background

Mr. Margif in his appeal challenged the nomination of Mr. Dakum as the flag bearer of the LP governor in Plateau State.

The appellant asserted that he (Mr Margif) won the gubernatorial election in that party.

But the Labor Party in its defense said Mr Margif in a letter had voluntarily withdrawn his candidacy from the contest.

The party said after withdrawing Mr. Margif from the race, a fresh primary election was held where Mr. Dakum won and his name was forwarded to INEC.

Mr. Margif initiated the suit at the Federal High Court in Jos, but he lost as the court upheld the position of the LP and declared Mr. Dakum as the governorship candidate of the Labor Party in Plateau State.

The court judge, Dorcas Agishi, in his decision dated December 9, 2022, supported Mr. Dakum’s candidacy.

The judge said the Labor Party complied with the guidelines in the conduct of the primary election produced by Mr. Dakum.

Ms Agishi noted that the plaintiff, Mr Margif, in his affidavit, voluntarily resigned as the party’s gubernatorial candidate forcing the party to conduct a new primary that produced Mr Dakum.

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Dissatisfied with the decision of the Federal High Court, Mr. Margif approached the Court of Appeal but lost, and then moved to the High Court.

The Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday ended the Labor Party gubernatorial candidate dispute.