Appeal Court affirms Kefas Agbu as Taraba governor

Add as a preferred source

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

In a unanimous judgement of the three-member panel of Justices of the court delivered by Justice Peter Affen, the appellate court held that the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) and its governorship candidate, Prof. Yahaya Sani, who were appellants in the appeal were not consistent in their petition against the March 18 governorship election.

Justice Affen held that why NNPP and Sani prayed for nullification of the election on grounds of non-compliance with the Electoral Act, the duo in another breath prayed the court to pronounce them as winners of the same election on grounds of scoring the majority of lawful votes.

The court held that it is against the law for any litigant, as in the case of NNPP and its governorship candidate to blow hot and cold at the same time and held that, having prayed that the election be nullified on account of non-compliance with the Electoral Act, the alternative prayer that, they be declared winner of the same election have no legs to stand upon.

The appellate court further held that the record of proceedings transmitted to the court was not complete and thereby rendering their appeal incompetent.

Consequently, Justice Affen dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit.

It would be recalled that a three-member panel of justices of the Taraba state Governorship election petition Tribunal, led by Justice G. A. Sunmonu had, on September 30 dismissed the petition filed by the NNPP and its governorship candidate for lacking in merit.

Prof. Sani and his party had filed a petition against the victory of the PDP and Kefas 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.

The Tribunal 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 petitioners failed to prove allegations of over-voting as the witnesses they called failed to demonstrate or prove the allegation of over-voting. The witnesses also failed to prove that they were polling unit agents of the petitioners as most of them relied on hearsay evidence.

“There were contradictions in the statement of witnesses called by the petitioners. The witnesses gave inconsistent responses in their affidavit and oral testimony during cross-examination.

“Where there are conflicts in the evidence of witnesses, the tribunal cannot choose which one to use, but to reject all. The burden is on the petitioners to prove that the election was conducted in non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act.

“The petitioners failed to prove their case to warrant the reliefs sought. The two issues formulated by the petitioners in their final written address are therefore resolved against them.

“The petition lacks merit, we accordingly reaffirm the election and return of Kefas Agbu as the duly elected Governor of Taraba State and parties are to bear their cost,” the tribunal held.

READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE