The Supreme Court on Friday, affirmed Colonel Kefas Agbu (Rtd) as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Taraba for the March 11, 2023 governorship election in the state.
The judgement of the apex court delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal sitting in Yola, Adamawa state that dismissed two different suits challenging the eligibility of Kefas Agbu to contest the governorship primary election of the PDP in Taraba state.
The twin appeals dismissed by the apex Court were those by two contenders for the governorship ticket, Hilkiah Buba-Joda and Jerome Nyameh.
The court, in the judgment, held that the appellants acted in breach of Sections 84 and 87(9) of the Electoral Act by failing to make use of the primary election dispute mechanism as contained in the party’s guidelines.
In 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 the court.
The apex Court also stated that failure of the appellants to include other aspirants who took part in the primary election at the early stages of the trial robbed them of right to fair hearing.
It be recalled that Kefas Agbu at the governorship primary election of the PDP won the contest with 443 votes out of the 517 votes cast.
