legal luminary born in the Plateau State People in plateau state and PDP supporters in the state have been advised by Chief Garba Pwol, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), to remain calm in the wake of recent conflicts and decisions by the Election Petition Tribunal that invalidated some of its members’ victories in the 2023 National Assembly election.
As he stated, it is advantageous for the legal boys to make mistakes at this stage of the Election Petition Tribunal dispute because they will be fixed at the appellate court, which is solely for lawyers and will review the errors of the lower court’s legal boys in order to correct them.
This was said in an exclusive interview with this outlet by the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who is also a politician, at the opening ceremony for the 2023–24 New Legal Year, which was conducted at the New Plateau High Court Complex on September 15, 2023.
He told me that, at this early stage of the case, having contradictory rulings from two different panels sitting at the same court premises is not cause for anxiety. This was in reference to recent rulings from the electoral tribunal panel located in the state capital.
He promised that when the case reached the higher level, there would undoubtedly be legal harmonisation and consistent rulings.
Allow the junior members to commit mistakes as it is reported to be happening today; the senior members will fix them when it reaches the highest level (appellate court).
He pleaded with the parties to call the supporters to order and maintain the status quo in order to prevent something that could destabilise the state and possibly be detrimental to everyone.
Chief Pwol, who has not spoken publicly since entering politics in the general election of 2023, declared that the political age was gone.
“The days of politics are over; we no longer make noise in legal practise; only in politics.”
Though not much has been accomplished in the state’s infrastructural development, the legal luminary noted that there is still hope that the government will step up efforts to bring development closer to all plateau citizens so they can benefit from the benefits of democracy.
