The Supreme Court has affirmed retired Colonel Kefas Agbu as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Taraba State for the March 11 governorship election.
In a judgment on Friday the court upholds the decision of Court of appeal court sitting in Yola, Adamawa state, that dismissed two different suits challenging the eligibility of Kefas Agbu as candidate of the party in Taraba State.
According to Justice Emmanuel Agim, the appellants (Professor Jerome Nyameh) acted in breach of Section 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.
The court said 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.
The court further stated that 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 fair hearing.
Justice Emmanuel Agim dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit.
Recall that, the Yola division of the Court of Appeal had affirmed Mr. Kefas Agbu as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Taraba State.
The three-man panel of justices dismissed the appeal brought by Professor Jerome Nyameh challenging the ruling of the Federal High Court, Jalingo, which earlier upheld the primary election that produced Kefas as PDP governorship candidate in the State.
In another judgment by the Appeal Court in the suit filed by another governorship aspirants Mr. Hilkiah Bubajoda Mafindi, the court also affirmed Kefas as the PDP governorship candidate and dismissed the appeal brought by the appellant.
Not comfortable with the appellate court’s decision, Professor Jerome Nyameh, who believed that his case had merit, immediately proceeded to the Apex court, calling for the disqualification of the party’s governorship on the grounds that Kefas did not purchase the expression of interest and nomination forms of the party.
Nyameh, claimed that the candidate was the party chairman and wants the court to restrain him from contesting for the governorship position of the state on the platform of the PDP come 2023.
The affirmation of Mr. Kefas Agbu as PDP Candidate by the Supreme Court, has now put to rest the wranglings between an aggrieved guber aspirant, Professor Jerome Nyameh and the party’s candidate , as well as the PDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Speaking in an interview with journalists the PDP Candidate Mr Kefas Agbu expressed happiness with the supreme court Judgement and promised to work for the development of Taraba state.
