The Court of Appeal in Abuja has reaffirmed Kefas Agbu as the duly elected governor of Taraba State. The three-member appellate court panel, led by Justice Peter Affen, delivered a unanimous judgement on Tuesday evening, dismissing the appeal brought by the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and its governorship candidate, Prof. Yahaya Sani.
Justice Affen stated that the NNPP and Sani were inconsistent in their petition against the March 28 governorship election. While they sought the nullification of the election citing non-compliance with the electoral act, they also requested to be declared as winners based on the majority of lawful votes. The court deemed this contradictory stance as untenable and against the law.
Furthermore, the Court of Appeal found the record of proceedings provided by the appellants to be incomplete, rendering their appeal incompetent. Consequently, Justice Affen dismissed the appeal for lacking merit, thereby upholding the earlier judgement of the tribunal which had also dismissed the petition.
It is worth noting that the Taraba State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, led by Justice Ayo Sunmonu, had previously dismissed the petition filed by NNPP and its governorship candidate on September 30, citing lack of merit.
