DANYARO SARPIYA vs NENTAWE YILWATDA: PLATEAU STATE APC GOVERNORSHIP ASPIRANTS ARE IN SUPPORT OF SARPIYA'S APPEAL—HON. JOHNSON PODAR (SPOKESMAN)

By: Valentine Adese (JP),

The suit challenging the victory of Dr. Nentawe Yilwatda Goshwe at the governorship primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Plateau State, seems far from over, despite the recent Judgment of the Federal High Court (FHC) Jos Division that held that, the Court lacks Jurisdiction because, the Claimant (Danyaro Dakon Sarpiya) has no Legal Locus to file the suit.

REALITY gathered that, dissatisfied with the Judgment of the FHC, the Claimant/Appellant, Danyaro Dakon Sarpiya and his supporters, have approached the Court of Appeal, Jos Division, complaining of the whole decision of the Lower Court.

THE NOTICE OF APPEAL

According to the Notice of Appeal, dated 16/12/2022, sighted by this paper, filed by S. A. Abbah Esq, with I. O. Akinmad Esq, and B. N. Goshi Esq, for Danyaro Sarpiya (Appellant), with the APC, Dr. Nentawe and INEC as, 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd Respondents respectively, Ground 10 of the appeal holds that, “the learned trial court erred when it held that the notice of objection filed by the Respondents secede and the court lacked jurisdiction to determine the suit and same is hereby struck out, without determining the suit on its merit thereby occasioning a miscarriage of justice”.

THE NOTICE OF APPEAL

As Reliefs, Sarpiya (The Appellant) is seeking the Court of Appeal to grant an Order, allowing the appeal and setting aside the decision of the Lower Court and secondly, to determine the case of the Appellant at the Lower Court and grant the reliefs sought pursuant to Section 15 of the Court of Appeal’s Act.

HON. JOHNSON PODAR

Reacting on this development, Hon. Johnson Podar, the Spokesman of the group of APC Governorship Aspirants in Plateau State, who from indications are still aggrieved with the outcome of the primary election, told REALITY via phone conversation that, the entire group is in support of the Appeal filed by Sarpiya.

He said they are totally in support of it because, what Sarpiya is seeking is justice for all of them, as he commends the selfless interest of Sarpiya.

For the group, Hon. Johnson said the Lower Court erred by telling the world a lie that, Sarpiya did not resign his job and that he withdrew from the contest before the APC primary election in the state.

According to Hon. Johnson, these excuses are truly unfounded as Sarpiya resigned from his Job as far as March 2022 and secondly that, he scored Zero (0) in the contest also showed that he was a candidate.

HON. PODAR

He frowned at some of the developments at the Federal High Court, which he claims were planned to frustrate the Claimant. He said the court had wanted the matter to lapse despite knowing it is a Pre-election matter, which has time limits and that, after the Judgment, the Judge also did not sign her judgment until the very last day allowed by Law on appealing such matters.

Adding that, “Despite all this frustrations, we are glad that, Sarpiya has finally filed the appeal. As a group of APC Governorship Aspirants in the state we are happy and proud of him. We know he is doing all these for all of us and for the interest of Plateau State. We continue to call on our supporters to remain calm as we continue to watch the developments as they unfold”.