Court Sacks Bwacha As Taraba APC Guber Candidate
THE Federal High Court in Abuja has nullified the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary election that produced Senator Emmanuel Bwacha as its candidate for next year’s general election.
Justice Obiora Egwuatu, in his judgment, declared that based on submissions made before him by the parties, the purported primary election conducted by APC on May 26 was nullity.
The Judge also ordered that a fresh primary election should be conducted with 14 days.
The court had on October 6 fixed November 15 for judgment in a suit filed by Senator Yusuf Yusuf, seeking the nullification of the Taraba APC governorship primary held on May 26.
Yusuf, representing Taraba Central at the National Assembly, who was also a governorship aspirant, had dragged Bwacha, the APC and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to court, challenging the declaration of Bwacha as winner.
His Counsel, Ibrahim Bawa (SAN), contended that APC held no governorship primary election in Taraba State, but rather announced that it would conduct direct primaries in only three states, of which Taraba was not part of, and that direct primaries would be conducted in the state only after the primaries were conducted.
He added that even though the appeal panel set up to hear complaints said there was no primaries held, the defendants insisted that the report was reviewed, adding: “The purported review was not signed by members of the committee; this court is empowered to compare the signatures on documents before it.”
Bawa also submitted that the Federal High Court in Taraba had in a recent ruling on a similar matter, nullified the election and ordered a fresh election.
But Counsel to the APC, Festus Idepefo (SAN), told the court that he had provided evidence to counter the submission of the plaintiff that no primary election held, noting: “The issues formulated by the plaintiff is that no election was conducted at all. In response to this allegation, we have exhibited the results of the elections in all the 168 wards in Taraba, showing the number of registered voters.
“We have also exhibited the INEC report issued in each local government area of Taraba. In a situation like this, we will expect the plaintiff to exhibit voters who were disenfranchised, but no such exhibit is before the court.”
Responding to the issue of a similar judgment in Taraba, Idebefo said the case in Taraba was different from the current case, sating: “The plaintiff in the Taraba case said that the notice given to him for the election was too short, so he did not have time to prepare for it. The plaintiff in this case is alleging that there was no election.”
He also argued that the allegation of no signature on the committee’s report amounted to forgery and falsification, which was a serious allegation to which the plaintiff must provide proof, saying justice could not be obtained by legal ambush and urged the court to dismiss the case for lacking in merit.
Counsel to Bwacha, E.A Ibrahim told the court that he filed 459 exhibits on behalf of his client, noting: “The exhibits comprise result sheets for the various wards and local government areas.”
He, therefore, prayed the court to dismiss the suit.
Counsel to INEC, N.T Abubakar, told the court that his client would abide by its decision.
