Gyang Bere, Jos
Plateau State governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the March 2019 election, Gen. Jeremiah Useni (Rtd) has instructed his legal team to appeal the judgement of the tribunal, which on Monday dismissed his bid to reclaim his mandate.
Useni in a press statement on Friday through his Media Consultant, Hon. Yiljap Abraham said the ruling of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal provided many grounds of appeal.
He insisted that Governor Lalong gave false information on his certificate, which the tribunal found as a fact but did not make consequential declaration. “I am convinced that there are many grounds to appeal the judgement. I have therefore instructed the legal team to take all processes with immediate effect and proceed on appeal against the tribunal judgement.”
Useni said he is further encouraged by the fact that the Supreme Court had last week upheld his interlocutory appeal against a Court of Appeal judgement which expunged the testimonies of 21 of his witnesses earlier considered by the tribunal.
He lamented that the tribunal did not direct its mind to the Supreme Court judgement which in turn affected its ruling. He said: “The bulk of the tribunal’s findings are in fact in favour of my petition, for example, the fact that Governor Simon Bako Lalong did indeed give false information on oath. But surprisingly, the tribunal did not give any consequential order to nullify his election.” Useni appealed for calm among supporters and party faithful, and assured that he will deploy legal instruments to retrieve the mandate he said the people of Plateau gave him at the polls.