THE Supreme Court yesterday gave reasons for its verdict on Taraba State gubernatorial election.
Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour in his judgment stated that failure of appeals against Governor Darius Ishaku of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its governorship candidate, Aisha Alhassan, hinged on lack of “locus standi”.
Other reason by the apex court for its judgment was that the governor was duly sponsored by his party, the PDP.
According to Rhodes-Vivour, evidence brought before the court had confirmed Ishaku’s membership of the PDP.
“The matter is very simple, the apex court has ruled on matters of this nature at different occasions.
“There is not way a candidate of another political party who did not participate in the primaries of another political party could suddenly rise to challenge the conduct of such an exercise.
“It is therefore clear that the appeals and all the cross-appeals against the election of Governor Darius Ishaku of Taraba State have no redeemable substance”, Rhodes-Vivour maintained.
The Supreme Court therefore affirmed the decision of the lower court to the effect that the Taraba State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal grossly misdirected itself by upturning Ishaku’s victory.
The apex court had in its February 11 ruling, dismissed the petition filed by APC and its governorship candidate, Aisha J. Alhassan, on the ground that the appeal lacked merit and consequently could not stand.
The court, therefore, slated February 22 to give reasons for its verdict.
It would be recalled that the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja had in December 2015 cancelled the purported victory handed Senator Alhassan by an election tribunal.
Alhassan was declared winner on November 7, 2015 by the Taraba State Governorship Election Tribunal through the nullification of the election of Ishaku.
But in its ruling, the Court of Appeal in December 2015 reviewed Ishaku’s appeal and described as ‘unattainable’ a petition by the APC seeking to disqualify him as the PDP candidate in the gubernatorial election of April 11, 2015.
In a unanimous ruling, a five-man panel then, led by Justice Abdul Aboki, noted that the election tribunal was wrong in giving victory to Senator Alhassan while nullifying the election of Ishaku.
The judges said the constitution clearly states that unless a candidate has been indicted by a court of law, or is known to have a criminal record, or has certain degree of health condition, among others, such a person cannot be determined by a tribunal as not being qualified as a candidate.
Justice Aboki had added that the failure of a party to conduct a conclusive primary (the grounds the tribunal cited for disqualifying Ishaku) was clearly a pre-election matter, which the tribunal has no jurisdiction on.
He said the important question about Section 85 of the Electoral Act was whether the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which the section was made for, was complaining about the candidature of Ishaku.
“If INEC does not see any reason to complain, can the first and second respondents be seen to be complaining loudly?
“I have found in this case that the first and second respondents have no right to challenge the emergence of the PDP governorship candidate since none of them is a member of the PDP”, Justice Aboki insisted.
But not satisfied with the Court of Appeal’s ruling, Alhassan had petitioned the Supreme Court, maintaining that Ishaku was not properly nominated by the PDP.
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