The Supreme Court has affirmed Kefas Agbu as the authentic governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Taraba State for the March 11, 2023 governorship election.
The apex court while delivering judgment on Friday upheld the decision of an appeal court sitting in Yola, Adamawa state that dismissed two different suits challenging the eligibility of Kefas Agbu to contest the governorship primary election of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Taraba state.
The twin appeals dismissed by the apex Court were those by two contenders for the ticket, Hilkiah Buba-Joda and Jerome Nyameh.
Justice Emmanuel Agim, in the judgement stated that the appellants acted in breach of Section 84 and 87(9) of the Electoral Act by failing to make use of the primary election dispute mechanism as contained in the party’s guidelines.
On these grounds, both appeals were deemed premature and lacking in merit as they were instituted without exploring the internal party options to seek redress before heading to court.
The apex Court also stated that failure of the appellants to include other aspirants who took part in the primary at the early stages of the trial robbed them of rights to fair hearing.
The Supreme Court stated that the law was clear on conditions precedent to be complied with before any aggrieved governorship aspirant could go to court.
Recall that Kefas Agbu at the governorship primary election of the PDP won the contest with 443 votes out of the 517 votes cast.
(Editor : Ena Agbanoma)
