Aminu Abdullahi Alkali, Taraba State’s Deputy Governor, is hopeful that Governor Kefas Agbu and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would win their case at the Supreme Court.
Prof. Yahaya Sani, a candidate for governor from the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), is challenging the incumbent governor and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Taraba State gubernatorial election on March 18, 2024.
While witnessing Wednesday’s proceedings in the appeals filed by NNPP and Sani, the deputy governor made the statement that the court has demonstrated that a miscarriage of justice cannot occur.
The position of the deputy governor was taken after Kanu Agabi, SAN, who was the principal counsel representing Agbu and the PDP, asked the supreme court to either reject or strike out the appeal.
At a hearing presided over by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, Agabi and a group of prominent lawyers argued that the NNPP and its candidate for governor had no valid case.
Because of the many errors in the case’s presentation to the highest court, he deemed the appeal to be extremely unqualified to be examined.
In settling the disagreement over the governorship election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) accepted the reasons put out by the governor’s attorney.
On the other hand, Olusegun Jolaawo, SAN, lead counsel for the NNPP and Sani, pleaded with the Justices to hear their case and grant their clients’ requested reliefs.
Kefas Agbu’s election as governor of Taraba State was upheld by the Abuja Court of Appeal.
In two independent appeals, the three-judge bench of the Taraba State appellate court upheld Agbu’s legitimacy as the governor-elect of March 18.
The appellate court determined that the appellants failed to provide sufficient evidence in accordance with the legal requirements to support their claims of non-compliance, irregularities, and other malpractices.
The appellate court, led by Justice Peter Affen, found the appellants guilty of document dumps and emphasized that the parties should have presented oral evidence to back up their claims, regardless of whether there were obvious instances of malpractice or irregularities in the documents.
The incomplete record of events given to the appellate court was the reason the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal as incompetent and lacking merit.
It should be remembered that the NNPP and its candidate for governor had their petition rejected by a three-judge panel of the Taraba State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal on September 30, 2023, due to its lack of merit, presided over by Justice G. A. Sunmonu.
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