The Supreme Court on Friday affirmed Mr Agbu Kefas as the governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Taraba state.
The jurist had earlier reported that tension rose in the state in anticipation of the judgement.
Justice Emmanuel Agim dismissed the appeal brought before it by Prof. Jerome Nyameh challenging the May 25, 2022, Taraba governorship primary election that produced Kefas as its flagbearer of the party.
The apex court dismissed the appeal by Nyameh because he failed to explore the internal mechanism for peaceful resolution of the primary election before rushing to court to institute the suit.
Agim, who read the court’s unanimous judgment, held that Nyameh also failed to join other aspirants that participated in the primary election as defendants as required by law.
The apex court said that the law was clear on conditions precedent to be complied with before any aggrieved governorship aspirant can rush to court.
The appeal court in Yola, Adamawa, had dismissed two suits challenging the eligibility of Agbu to contest the governorship primary election of the PDP.
The twin appeals dismissed by the apex court were those by two contenders for the ticket, Hilkiah Buba-Joda and Jerome Nyameh.
The court held that the appellants breached Sections 84 and 87(9) of the Electoral Act by failing to use the primary election dispute mechanism contained in the party’s guidelines.
“In the light of this, 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.
“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 a fair hearing”, Agim said. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Agbu, at the governorship primary election of the PDP, won the contest with 443 out of the 517 votes cast.
NAN
