The Court of Appeal has reserved judgment in the three appeals and cross appeal that emanated from the judgment of the Taraba State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.
The tribunal, which sat in Abuja because of the security concerns in the North Eastern region of the country, in its judgment sacked the governor of the state, Mr Darius Ishaku of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on the ground that he was not sponsored by any political party as required by law.
The unanimous judgment of the Musa Danladi Abubakar led tribunal, in a petition filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its governorship candidate, Mrs Aisha Alhassan, held that the purported nomination of the sacked governor by PDP breached Section 85 of the Electoral Act 2010 and ordered the governor to vacate office.
Lawyer to Governor Ishaku, Mr Kanu Agabi (SAN) urged the court to set aside the judgment of the Taraba tribunal, adding also that the appeal ought not to have come up because it was not attached with any valid witness statement.
Agabi said that there was nothing to show on the deposition of the witnesses that any fee was paid and not a single of the deposition was signed by the Commissioner for Oath.
Counsel to Aisha Alhassan and her party, the All Progressives Congress, Abiodun Owonikoko submitted that there was no primary election by the PDP to elect the appellant as its candidate in the election, a submission he said was affirmed by the tribunal and urged the court to uphold the judgment of the tribunal.
The five member panel led by Justice Abdul Aboky reserved ruling of the court on a date that would be conveyed to parties in the matter.
The acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had in November faulted the judgment of the Taraba tribunal saying their work was marred by political interference from security officials.
Mr Uche Secondus promised the party would support the Taraba Governor, Darius Ishaku, till justice is served.
Channels Television News
