Plateau lawmaker barred from election for five

Plateau lawmaker barred from elections for five years 20 Oct 2015 9:12 PM The National and State House of Assembly Elections Petitions Tribunal sitting in Jos has blacklisted the lawmaker representing Langtang South in the Plateau State House of Assembly, Mr. Vincent Bulus, for five years from contesting future elections. Bulus won the election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party. The tribunal also ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct a fresh election into the seat within 90 days. The judgment was sequel to a petition filed the All Progressives Congress candidate in the April 11 governorship and State House of Assembly elections, Mr. Jackson Danladi. Danladi had petitioned the tribunal alleging that the lawmaker was not fit to vie for the election on the basis that he was an ex-convict. Chairman of the tribunal, Justice O. O. Akeredolu, in her judgment, said the respondent was not qualified to contest the election, having been convicted of an offence in line with Section 107(1)(d) of the 1999 Constitution as amended. The tribunal said the lawmaker though claimed that he was not the one convicted of duping the daughter of a former state Governor Jonah Jang by a Magistrate’s Court, he was identified by the Magistrate that convicted him and the security officer that arrested him. The tribunal also rejected a letter purporting to show that the respondent was pardoned by the former governor. The electoral panel declared that a state governor had no power to pardon the ex-convict since the law, under which he was convicted, was a federal law, for which only the President could grant him such pardon. The tribunal held that the respondent should have waited for another five years to complete the mandatory 10 years before he could stand for any elective office. The chairman said, “The respondent, having been convicted of an offence involving fraud and dishonesty by a court of law, was not qualified to contest the election into the Plateau State House of Assembly to represent Langtang South Constituency. “That the election and return of the first respondent as member of Plateau State House of Assembly to represent Langtang South is a nullity.” The tribunal, while observing that the petitioners obtained the second highest number of votes, however, held that the only order it could give was for a fresh election to be conducted into the constituency seat.