Tribunal Affirms Lalong Governor Of Plateau

The Governorship Elections Petitions Tribunal sitting in Jos, the Plateau State capital on Wednesday affirmed Simon Lalong as the duly elected Governor of the state.

The tribunal led by Justice Halimat .A Saleeman in a unanimous decision dismissed the petition filed by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Jeremiah Useni against Lalong of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

The tribunal threw out the petitioner’s case on the grounds that it is weak along the line of law and therefore cannot sway justice to the side of the petitioner.

During the trial, the PDP candidate and his party had called over seventy-one witnesses to prove their case.

The petition was therefore dismissed in its entirety and the declaration of Lalong by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the guber polls became valid.

Recall that Useni had challenged the reelection of Lalong before the tribunal claiming that there were cases of over-voting and votes cancellation in the PDP-dominated areas of the state during the March 2019 election.

The former FCT Minister also claimed that Lalong was not qualified to contest the election as the certificate which he submitted to INEC bears a different name other Simon Lalong.

Lalong was declared the winner of the governorship election after scoring 595, 582 to defeat Useni who garnered 546,813.