Appeal Court affirms PDP’s Kefas as Taraba governor

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has affirmed the election of Agbu Kefas of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the governor of Taraba State.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had announced Kefas as the winner of the March 18 governorship election in Taraba State.

The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and its candidate, Prof. Sani Yahaya, later instituted a petition against the victory of the PDP and Kefas.

The petition was on the grounds of non-compliance to the provisions of the Electoral Act of 2022, citing overvoting, mutilation of result sheets, and alleged violence in some polling units.

Delivering judgement in the appeal on Tuesday, November 28, 2023, a three-member panel of the appellate court dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit.

In a unanimous judgement delivered by Justice Peter Affen, the court held that the appellants failed to prove their case, adding that the petitioners were inconsistent in the reliefs sought.

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Justice Affen said: “They cannot claim a certificate of return in an election they claimed was fraught with non-compliance and irregularities.

“The section 137 of the Electoral Act, 2022 has not abrogated the provisions of the Evidence Act.

“The appeal lacks merit and accordingly dismissed.”

The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital, on September 30, affirmed the election of Kefas as the governor of the state.

The three-member panel led by Justice G. Sunmonu dismissed the petition filed by NNPP and Yahaya for lacking in merit.

The panel held that the petitioners who claimed to have scored the majority of lawful votes cast were inconsistent in their reliefs sought as they asked that the same election be declared invalid, yet valid to declare their candidate winner.

The tribunal, therefore, upheld the election of Governor Kefas of the PDP as the duly elected governor of the state.

The tribunal held that the petitioners failed to prove their case to warrant the reliefs sought to be granted.

The Star