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| Gov Ishaku |
The
Supreme Court has upheld the outcome of the April 11, 2015, governorship
election that produced Governor Darius Ishaku of the People Democratic
Party, PDP.
A
seven-man panel of Justices of the apex court, in a unanimous judgment this
afternoon, dismissed the the appeal that was lodged by Senator Aisha Jumai
Alhassan of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Justice
Bode Rhodes-Vivour who delivered the lead verdict, affirmed the earlier
judgment of the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal which declared Gov Ishaku as the valid winner of
the gubernatorial contest.
“I am of
the firm view that there is no merit in this appeal and it is hereby dismissed.
The Judgment of the Court of Appeal is affirmed and
the election of governor Darius Ishaku is hereby upheld”, Justice Rhodes-Vivour
held.
However,
the apex court panel reserved its reasons for the judgement till February
22.
Senator
Alhassan who is currently the Minister of Women affairs, had prayed the
apex court to set aside the verdict of the Abuja Division of the Court of
Appeal which earlier upheld governor Ishaku’s election.
It will be recalled that the
appellate court had on December 31, 2015, reversed the judgment of
the Taraba State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal which nullified
Ishaku’s election.
In
voiding the decision of the tribunal, a five-man panel of Justices of the
appellate court, held that Ishaku, validly won the governorship contest.
It
maintained that the Justice Musa Danladi Abubakar led tribunal, “grossly misdirected itself”, when it not
only nullified governor Ishaku’s election, but went ahead to declare the APC
candidate winner.
Justice
Abdul Aboki who read the lead judgment, said the tribunal acted outside its
jurisdiction when it invalidated Ishaku’s election on the premise that he was
not validly nominated by the PDP.'
The appellate
court stressed that the issue of nomination of a candidate by a political party
“is clearly a pre-election matter which no tribunal has the jurisdiction to
entertain”.
According to the court, neither
the APC nor its candidate, Alhassan, had the requisite locus-standi to query
the outcome of the PDP governorship primary election that produced Ishaku.
It emphasised that under section
87(9) of the Electoral Act, only those that participated in the said PDP
primary election, has the statutory right to challenge its outcome at the
Federal High Court or State High Court.
The appellate court said
contention on whether the PDP rightly or wrongly conducted its
governorship primary election, did not fall within matters that could be
entertained by an election petition tribunal.
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