Apc Candidate, Mama Taraba, Loses To Governor Ishiaku At Appeal Court

SAN FRANCISCO, December 31, (THEWILL) – The candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the Taraba state governorship election, Aisha Alhassan better known as Mama Taraba, on Thursday lost her bid to replace Darius Ishaku of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as governor of the state.

She lost at the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, which ruled that the APC standard bearer had no locus standi – the right or capacity to appear in a court – to question the decision of the PDP.

The Abdul Aboki-led five-man panel ruled that the PDP fielded Ishaku, who was accepted by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, with no complaints.

Though it admitted the testimony of the INEC officer, who testified that the PDP primaries violated sections 85 and 87 of the electoral law, the panel said the APC had no locus standi on the matter.

Out of the five issues raised by the appellant, two were ruled in favour of the APC, another two went the way of the PDP; while the last issue on declaring Alhassan automatic governor after tribunal's disqualification of Ishaku, was overruled by the panel.

Aboki ruled that it was “gross mis-direction” on the part of the tribunal to have declared Al-hassan as winner, declaring its initial decision as null and void on the ground that it violated the electoral act.

It would be recalled that after the April 11 election, INEC announced PDP's Darius Ishaku as winner with 369,318 votes defeating APC's Al-hassan who polled 275,984 at the ballot in April