Plateau: Appeal Court Dismisses Review, Fines 16 Sacked PDP Lawmakers ₦8M Each

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Plateau: Appeal Court Dismisses Review, Fines 16 Sacked PDP Lawmakers ₦8M Each

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has fined 16 Plateau Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmakers, who were earlier sacked in November last year by the court.

They were fined after the Appeal Court dismissed a fresh suit they filed challenging their dismissal.

The sacked lawmakers, who had made futile efforts to regain their seats at the state House of Assembly after the Supreme Court affirmed the election of Governor Caleb Muftwang, approached the appellate court for a review of its judgment that sacked them.

But delivering judgment in the fresh suit yesterday, the appellate court Justices led by Joseph Olubunmi Oyewole JCA dismissed the suit as frivolous and lacking in merit and subsequently ordered that each of the 16 applicants pay the sum of N8 million to the respondents, bringing the total fine to N128 million.

It would be recalled that the Court of Appeal had sacked the lawmakers on the ground that their party lacked structure and could not sponsor candidates in an election and declared all candidates that came second in the elections.

Having heard the arguments, Justice J.O.K. Oyewole rejected the motions for lacking merit, describing the suit as a waste of judicial time.

Daily Trust reports that the Speaker of the state assembly, Gabriel Daweng, refused to swear in the 16 All Progressives Congress (APC) and Labour Party members as lawmakers on January 23, arguing that he had received court process and asked them to wait until the court made a determination.