The National Democratic Congress (NDC) 2024 parliamentary candidate for the Kpandai constituency, Daniel Wakpal, has filed an affidavit in opposition to an application filed at the Supreme Court by lawyers for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Kpandai, Matthew Nyindam, seeking to quash the decision of the Kpandai High Court that ordered a rerun of the 2024 parliamentary election.
The High Court’s decision has led to the Speaker of Parliament declaring the Kpandai seat vacant, and the Electoral Commission (EC) has issued a statement announcing a rerun for 30 December 2025. However, a five-member Supreme Court panel presided over by Justice Gabriel Pwamang, on Tuesday, 16 December 2025, ordered a suspension of the rerun until the Certiorari application before the court has been determined.
Contention of Wakpal
In his affidavit in opposition, Wakpal argues that Matthew Nyindam (the applicant) “is not entitled to the relief of a grant of Judicial Review like Certiorari for an order of court quashing the judgment of the High Court, Commercial Division, Tamale, presided over by His Lordship Justice Emmanuel Bart-Plange Brew, dated 24 November 2025, as well as the proceedings and processes leading to the said judgment on the following grounds that:
“That the Applicant’s conduct of filing the Gazette dated 6 January 2025, before the High Court, Commercial Division, Tamale, in a bid to dismiss my Election Petition and subsequently filing a Gazette dated 24 December 2024, before this Honourable Court in the instant Application, amounts to fraud.
“That the Applicant’s deposition in paragraph 8 of the 21 January 2025, Supplementary Affidavit filed against the Election Petition with suit number, NR/TL/HC/E13/15/25, that the Parliamentary Election results of 7 December 2024, were published in the Gazette on 6 January 2025, and his subsequent assertion and reliance on a 24 December 2024, gazette the in this court for the remedy of a Certiorari amounts to fraudulent misrepresentation
“That the Applicant acquiesced to whatever alleged want of jurisdiction attended the High Court judgment by his own conduct of knowing a 24 December 2024 gazette, and yet consenting to, participating in, and relying on all proceedings of the trial High Court, Commercial Division, Tamale, leading to judgment. He thus cannot file into court, rely, and seek to benefit from the gazette dated 6 January 2025, in a Certiorari Application before this Honourable Court.
“That the trial High Court, Commercial Division, Tamale, had jurisdiction to hear the Parliamentary Election Petition and rightly assumed jurisdiction to hear the Petition, and that the court did not err in its application of the applicable law regulating an Election Petition.
“That a Certiorari remedy is discretionary and the conduct of the Applicant in this instant Application for Judicial Review, like Certiorari, should disentitle him to the remedy.
“That the Applicant is engaged in forum-shopping, evidenced by his filing of two Notices of Appeal, dated the 24th of November, 2025, and 1st December, 2025, respectively, constitutes an abuse of court, and as such, this Honourable Court ought to shut the doors of the discretionary remedy against the Applican
To this end, Daniel Wakpal prayed the Supreme Court to dismiss the Applicant’s Motion on Notice for Judicial Review like Certiorari for an order of court quashing the judgment of the High Court, Commercial Division, Tamale, as well as the proceedings and processes leading to the said judgment.
The Supreme Court is expected to reconstitute on Tuesday, 13 January 2025, to hear the certiorari application.
Background
On December 1, 2025, the then Member of Parliament (MP) for Kpandai, Matthew Nyindam, filed an application at the Supreme Court (SC) seeking to quash the Tamale High Court’s judgment that annulled his election and ordered a rerun.
The application filed by his lawyer, Gary Nimako Marfo, seeks an order of certiorari to strike out the High Court’s November 24, 2025, decision, arguing that the trial court lacked jurisdiction.
The leading argument is that the election petition filed by Mr. Wakpal was not filed within 21 days of the gazetting of the election results, as prescribed by law.
He then followed up with an application for substituted service because they were struggling to serve the motion on the NDC candidate.
While the motions were pending, the EC on December 10, 2025, issued a statement announcing a rerun of the election on December 30, noting that the rerun will be contested only by the three candidates who participated in the original 2024 Parliamentary Election for the Kpandai Constituency.
This restriction, it said, is intended to ensure the rerun is a direct continuation of the disputed poll, with the same contenders.
Gary Nimako Marfo, while moving his motion for substituted service on 16 December 2025, urged the Supreme Court to take judicial notice that the Electoral Commission has scheduled the rerun for December 30.
A 5-member panel of the court presided over by Justice Gabriel Pwamang and included Justices Omoro Tanko, Yonny Kulendi, Samuel Asiedu, and Henry Anthony Kwofie, in their decision, ordered the EC to suspend all arrangements for the rerun of the Kpandai parliamentary election in order not to overreach the court in its determination of the motion for certiorari.
The court also granted the application by Mr. Nyindam’s lawyers to serve the National Democratic Congress (NDC) candidate for the constituency, Daniel Nsala Wakpal, by substituted service.
Gary Nimako Marfo, counsel for Mathew Nyindam, told the court that all efforts to serve Mr. Wakpal with the motion for certiorari and motion to suspend the orders of the High Court have proved futile.
“Ever since the judgment was obtained, all attempts to serve him have proved futile. Bailiffs have been prevented from serving him when they went to the house,” he told the court.
He therefore urged the court to issue an order to post the processes on the walls of the facility, with a digital address provided by Mr. Wakpal, as reflected in the court documents during the proceedings before the High Court in Tamale.
There was a minor incident in the courtroom when the Member of Parliament for Tolon in the Northern Region, Habib Iddrisu, sent Mr. Wakpal GH₵500 via MTN Mobile Money to confirm that the phone number provided by Mr. Nimako Marfo belonged to the NDC candidate and was active.
The gesture drew wild laughter in the fully packed Supreme Court as details of the transaction were shown to a court official, who confirmed them.
After hearing Mr. Marfo, the panel found sufficient justification to issue a substituted service order. It directed that the motions be served on Mr. Wakpal via a digital address provided to the court.
The motion papers are also to be posted on the notice boards of the High Court in Tamale and the District Court in Kpandai.
The applicant is also to serve Mr. Wakpal via WhatsApp through the mobile phone number provided by Mr. Marfo.
The postings are to remain for seven days, after which Wakpal would be deemed served.
