The hope of Nigeria having the first female elected governor was finally<\/p>\n
dashed by the Supreme Court on Thursday morning with the validation of
\nDarius Ishaku as the governor of Taraba State.<\/p>\n
The court had in a unanimous ruling dismissed an appeal by the female
\ncandidate of the All Progressives Congress, Aisha Alhassan, saying it
\nlacked merit.<\/p>\n
The Taraba State Election Petition Tribunal had earlier nullified the
\nelection of Ishaku while ordering that Alhassan be sworn in as the State
\nGovernor.<\/p>\n
The tribunal had based its decision on the fact that the primary election
\nof Peoples Democratic Party which produced Ishaku was not properly held.<\/p>\n
The tribunal ruled that Ishaku, was not nominated by his party, and
\ntherefore not qualified for the said election.<\/p>\n
But the Court of Appeal dismissed the tribunal\u2019s judgment, as it argued
\nthat only a member of a party can complain about its primaries.<\/p>\n
The Supreme Court which had in its ruling on the appeals on governorship
\nelection in Benue and some other places also maintained the same stance in
\nits judgment delivered on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Kanu Agabi, SAN, counsel to the Taraba State Governor had cited the
\njudgments of the Supreme Court in Benue and Zamfara appeals which were
\nfounded on an alleged lack of conduct of primaries, by the respondents and
\nin which the apex court had dismissed the suits.<\/p>\n
He reminded the court that the appeals were dismissed because of the
\ncourt\u2019s stand that only a member of a party has the right to complain
\nabout its affairs, including the conduct of the primary.<\/p>\n
Kanu argued that the APC candidate has also not complained that Ishaku was
\nnot a member of PDP while the party has also not denied sponsoring him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am firmly of the view that there is no merit in this appeal. It is
\nhereby refused,\u201d said Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivor, who read the lead
\njudgement of a seven-member panel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe judgement of the court of Appeal is affirmed and the return of the
\nfirst respondent as the governor of Taraba is affirmed.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the court will give reasons for its judgment on 22 February.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The hope of Nigeria having the first female elected governor was finally dashed by the Supreme Court on Thursday morning with the validation of Darius Ishaku as the governor of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35304,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n