Court sacks Benue lawmaker, orders refund of salaries, allowances

After three years of legal battle over a legislative seat in the Benue state house of assembly, the court of appeal on Friday ordered the removal of Benjamin Nungwa, a member of the house.

The court ruled that Joseph Boko, who was declared winner of the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary election in 2015, is the real occupant of the seat.

Dissatisfied with the conduct of the primary, Nungwa sent a petition to the APC national secretariat for arbitration.

An arbitration panel was set up by the national working committee (NWC) of the party to resolve the disputed primary election. The NWC’s judgement favoured Nungwa.

Subsequently, Boko filed a suit at the federal high court in the state against Nungwa, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and the APC, claiming that the panel never invited him to its sittings.

He, therefore, prayed the court to declare that the panel was not competent to sit since it was not properly constituted.

He argued that he was properly nominated as the party’s candidate for the election and prayed the court to order Nungwa to relinquish the seat he was occupying to him.

He noted that his name was illegally substituted with that of Nungwa, weeks after the deadline for substitution of candidates names at INEC.

However, Binta Nyako, the judge, affirmed Nungwa as the APC’s candidate and cited the decision of the NWC as the basis.

Following the ruling, Boko approached the supreme court, which after hearing the matter, expunged all cross-appeals and motions that were unnecessary to the case and transmitted it back to the appeal court with a directive for a speedy retrial on merit.

In a unanimous judgement read by Joseph Ekanem, presiding judge, the court overturned the judgment of the federal high court which affirmed Nungwa as the winner of the legislative seat.

The court, therefore, ordered the immediate sack of Nungwa, who it described as “an illegal occupant of the Kwande-west legislative seat’’.

Nungwa was ordered to refund all salaries and allowances earned within the three years he occupied the seat in the house and granted N200,000 costs to the appellant.

The court resolved that the arbitration panel set up by the NWC was not competent to handle the crises, saying it was not properly constituted.

Commenting on the court’s verdict, Boko said he was grateful to God and the judiciary for being “the last hope of the ordinary man”.