Yakubu Busari
Justice Ishaku Kunda of the State High Court sitting in the Jos Division of Plateau State on Monday has delivered a landmark judgment ordering the embattled Chairman Hon Joshua U.Laven to be reinstated as the Executive Chairman to complete his remaining 3-year tenure of office.
The Judge pointed out that the relief sought by defense counsel can’t yield any positive result because there was abuse by the defendants PLASIEC conducting election into chairmanship seat that has flouted the court order.
Kunda emphasized that the tenure of Langtang North Local Government tenure will expire on the 9th October 2022 so whatever decision was taken by the PLASIEC is null and void.
He stated that the exercise of embarking on conducting election into chairmanship seat was an unnecessary, wasteful exercise by the 1st &4th defendants as impunity and lack of respect for rules of law.
According to him, the Plateau Independent Electoral Commission disrespected the judiciary after the interlocutory order stopped them and their agent from coming to conduct the election into the chairmanship seat of Langtang north.
Justice Kunda explained further that the Chairman didn’t write to PLASIEC but his party PDP wrote and forwarded Ubandoma names in the list of aspirants vying for the seat of chairmanship in Plateau state so the exercise was described as null and void the chairman Laven participated in the congresses, saying the Claimant is a responsible citizen and has demonstrated himself as law-abiding that follow the due process.
According to him, the 1st, 2nd,3rd, and 4th defendants has disregarded the court order and they are disrespectful to the court of jurisdiction
The Landmark judgment is a declaratory victory to democracy because the election was conducted by PLASIEC in 2018 a year after the Executive Governor Simon Bako Lalong swore him as the Executive Chairman of Langtang North LGA in 2019 which tenure expires on the 9th October 2022, he said.
Justice Kunda stated that the statutory order to conduct an election in the chairmanship seat of Langtang north is irrelevant and didn’t apply to law guiding the PLASIEC in the state, stressing that the tenure of Langtang north embattled chairman has not expired until 2022.
He said whether the court has the jurisdiction to entertain the suit filed by the claimant, Justice Kunda he said yes, the state high court had the power to listen anchored by 254(c) , a,b,c & k constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria 1999 amended
He, however, explained that the dispute wasn’t issues of salary, allowances which are exclusively .main for the industrial court to address but the tenure elongation which the 3 years hadn’t expire, adding section 7 of federal and 30 and 38 Local Government law of 2016 there was no dispute arising from salary payment but by law conferred on him under section 271(1) of 1999 amended rooted that the originating surmount sought for 4&5 relies on shows that the removal of the Executive Chairman of Langtang north is illegal where the judge stroke out the preliminary objections raised by the defense counsel.
The Judge pointed out that the claimant seat would be vacant after the expiration of his tenure in 2022 under section 38(1),3 LG guidelines of 2016 which started with the date of allegiance of office, and what happened is a total violation of the section 18 subsection (1) of PLASIEC rules.
