Ordered to be properly constituted? Did the coming of the Hon. Dakas Shan delegation change anything on the ground as per the Judgements of the High Court and Court of Appeal? Who eventually submitted the list of PDP Plateau State Candidates since only the State Chairman and Secretary are empowered by law to submit list of nominated Candidates to the National Headquarters and INEC?
Who submitted the list of Party Agents for the PDP during the last General Elections? Was it Dakas Shan or Chris Hassan? Why did the Plateau PDP not participate at the National Convention which saw the emergence of Senator Iyorchia Ayu-led NWC ?
Did they also participate in the Presidential Primaries where Alh. Atiku Abubakar emerged? Were the Court Orders earlier issued against PDP Plateau State Chapter or PDP National Body since there is just one registered PDP in the eyes of the Law? Several renowned Legal Experts agreed that it made no difference that it was a PDP National Delegation that came and conducted the Primary Elections for the Candidates that contested in the recent General Election.
There is a Consensus of Legal opinion that if the PDP National had any role as such, it should have been to come to correct the error by conducting EXCO Elections as ordered by the Court, not to come and conduct Primary Elections for aspirants!
PDP’S APPEAL AT THE SUPREME COURT
The PDP and its Elected Candidates’ last hope was hinged on the slim possibility that the Supreme Court would at least consider their Appeal in SC/CV/1341/2022, PEOPLES’S DEMOCRATIC PARTY VS PLATEAU STATE INDEPENDENT ELECTORAL COMMISSION and reverse the Judgments of the Plateau State High Courts and the one by Court of Appeal Jos Division all of which found and held that the Party not only lacked a competent Exco in Plateau State but was in contempt of Court Orders.
However, because they failed to file their Appellant’s Brief within time and were lackadaisical about the prosecution of the Appeal, the Supreme Court, on 7th December 2022 dismissed the Appeal for want of diligent prosecution, pursuant to Order 6 Rule 3 (2) of the Rules of that Court! The Appeal was among the 50 Civil Appeals and 6 Political Appeals that were disposed of.
CONCLUSION
Going by this development, the predicament of the PDP in Plateau State could best be described as self-inflicted and a very bad one because a judgment or order of Court remains valid and subsisting until same is set aside by a Court of competent jurisdiction. In the case at hand, the Order of Hon. Justice S.P. Gang of the High Court of Plateau State remains valid, subsisting and binding on PDP until same is set aside.
Moreover, the affirmation of the same judgment by Hon. Justice I. Kunda and the Court of Appeal Jos Division also remains valid with no hope of being set aside since the PDP’s appeal at the Supreme Court was dismissed in 7th December, 2022 which legally means the matter has been put to rest.
As the Election Petition Tribunals begin sitting to hear Cases brought before them, the Zamfara State scenario may just be loading in Plateau State where all PDP Candidates who won Elections and those who lost may be declared ineligible to have contested the 2023 Elections in the first place. PDP’s perpetual disobedience of the Orders of Court may be their undoing as Political Disaster of monumental proportions looms very large on the Plateau.
