The Supreme Court has upheld the election victory of Agbu Kefas of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 Taraba governorship election.
Kefas’ victory at the polls was challenged by the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) and its candidate, Yahaya Sani.
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja had upheld the judgment of the Taraba State Governorship Election Tribunal which affirmed Kefas as the duly elected governor of the state.
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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had announced the PDP candidate as the winner with 257,926 votes.
The NNPP urged the courts below to invalidate the governor’s election for non-compliance with the Electoral Act 2022, adding he didn’t score the majority of lawful votes cast.
Passing its judgment on the cross appeal filed by the governor, the three-man appeal court panel held that the NNPP filed inconsistent reliefs.
The appeal court held that the NNPP candidate could not be seeking reliefs for the nullification of an election over non-compliance and on the other hand, asking to be returned as governor in the same election.
Parties approached the apex court for redress, canvassing arguments that their previous submissions at the lower court be sustained.
Reading the final verdict on Thursday, Justice Garba Lawal said the appeal court was right to have dismissed the appellants appeal on the ground of incomplete records.
The judge concluded that since the records of appeal were incomplete, the issues raised by the NNPP have no foundation.
“You cannot put something on nothing and expect it to stand,” the judge said, adding that the NNPP appeal “stands dismissed.”