A court of appeal sitting in Abuja on Thursday, December 31, upturned the decision of the Taraba state election tribunal which declared the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s Aisha Alhassan the winner of the Taraba governorship election.
The court decided in favor of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s candidate, Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku, ruling that Ishaku’s nomination by the PDP could not be questioned by a non-member of the party.
The Justice Danladi Abubakar-led tribunal had on November 7 sacked the Peoples Democratic Party’s Ishaku and declared All Progressives Congress’ Aisha Alhassan the winner.
But Governor Darius Ishaku, who expressed confidence in holding on to his position, following the possibility of going to the poll for a third time, filed an appeal asking the court to set it the judgement of the state tribunal aside.
Ahead of today’s judgment, on December 21, the Justice Abdul Aboki-led five-man bench of the appeal court heard three appeals and a cross-appeal by the APC.
Below are our updates from the court ruling:
15:19 Ishaku wins the appeal.
15:18 Declaring Alhassan/APC winner of the poll by tribunal violates section 140(2) of Electoral Act is null and void.
15:17 “It was a gross misdirection on the part of the tribunal to have declared APC/Alhassan as the winner.”
15:07 This tribunal is like a football match: two issues are in favour of the APC, two are in favour of the PDP.
15:02 Issue 5 is resolved against APC/Alhassan, however, the justice is back to issue 4 (whether the tribunal has power to declare APC/Alhassan the winner even after disqualifying PDP/Ishaku).
14:50 Issue 5 is in progress.
14:30 Appeal Court: – APC/Alhassan has no locus standi to complain about the improper conduct of PDP’s primary; – The only participant in a primary can complain about its improper conduct; – The issue of conduct of primary cannot be subject of dispute for adjudication by election petition tribunal.
14:03 Third issue is in process. A correspondent of The Punch reports on ground:
Alhassan, who is fondly called Mama Taraba, is currently serving as the minister of women affairs after being nominated and sworn in by President Muhammadu Buhari. If she secures the Taraba governorship seat, she would become Nigeria’s first female governor elect.
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