The Court of Appeal has upheld the decision of Election Tribunal on Taraba state governorship elections and declared the candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) Aisha Alhassan as Governor of Taraba State.
In its ruling the court said “Aisha Jummai Alhassan is the duly elected governor of Taraba State.”
It would be recalled that on November 7, the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal for Taraba sitting in Abuja nullified the election of Taraba Governor, Mr Darius Ishaku, of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) and declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and a Minister designate, Mrs Aisha Alhassan, as the winner of the April 11 governorship election in the state.
In a judgment the three-member tribunal held that Ishaku was not validly nominated as candidate of the PDP and therefore was not qualified, ab-initio, to contest the governorship election.
Specifically, the tribunal held that the governorship primaries purportedly conducted by the PDP in the state was done in violation of section 78 (b) (1)(2) of the Electoral Act which guides parties nomination to the position of governorship candidate.