The Supreme Court on Thursday affirmed Agbu Kefas of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the duly elected governor of Taraba State.
The apex court, in a unanimous decision by a five-member panel, held that the NNPP and its candidate filed an incomplete record of appeal.
The apex court, in its lead judgement that was delivered by Justice Mohammed Garba, dismissed as incompetent an appeal that was filed by the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) and its governorship candidate in the state, Prof. Sani Yahaya.
The appellants had approached the Supreme Court, praying it to set aside the judgement of the Court of Appeal in Abuja which affirmed Kefas’ election victory.
The appellate court had in the judgement it delivered on November 28, 2023, dismissed the appeal by the NNPP and its candidate as lacking in merit.
The court held that it found no reason to vacate the verdict of the Taraba State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which had on September 30, 2023, declared Kefas Agbu of the PDP as the valid winner of the gubernatorial poll.
The appellate court faulted the tribunal for not striking out the petition outrightly, noting that it was legally incompetent.
It will be recalled that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had on March 21, 2023, declared PDP’s Kefas, a retired Nigerian Army Lieutenant Colonel, as the winner of the governorship contest.
INEC announced that Kefas polled a total of 302,614 votes to defeat his closest rival, Prof. Yahaya of the NNPP who scored 202,277 votes.
