The Supreme Court has upheld the Court of Appeal’s decision on the Taraba gubernatorial election which affirmed the victory of Darius Ishaku of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the April 2011 polls.
The All Progressives Congress’ (APC) candidate in the contentious election, Sen. Aisha Jumai Alhassan, had appealed the decision, praying the apex court to set aside the decision of the Justice Abdul Aboki-led appellate court that upturned the tribunal’s verdict declaring her the winner.
However, in a unanimous decision, a seven-man panel of justices of the Supreme Court led by Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour held that the Court of Appeal’s decision of December 31, 2015, which affirmed Ishaku’s election, was in order.
The Supreme Court then went ahead to dismiss Alhassan’s appeal for lack of merit.
The court has however reserved pronouncement on the reasons for the decision till February 22.
Recall that the Taraba State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal led by Justice Musa Danladi Abubakar had voided Ishaku’s election on the grounds that he was not duly nominated by his party, PDP, to contest the election and declared Alhassan the winner of the election.
However, Ishaku appealed the tribunal’s decision at the Court of Appeal which held that the tribunal “grossly misdirected itself” in its verdict, stating that the grounds on which Ishaku’s election was nullified was beyond the jurisdiction of the tribunal.
The appeal court held that since Alhassan was not one of the contenders for the PDP’s candidature at the primaries, she could not contest the choice of the PDP in the gubernatorial election.
Meanwhile, Alhassan’s party, APC, has congratulated Ishaku on his victory at the Supreme Court.
Going on Twitter this afternoon, the party stated:
Congratulations to Governor Dickson Darius of Taraba State! pic.twitter.com/cD2nkFv36H
— APC Nigeria Support (@APCNigeria) February 11, 2016