The Taraba State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja has nullified the election of Governor Darius Ishaku of the Peoples Democratic Party, and declared his All Progressives Congress counterpart, Alhaja Aisha Alhassan, as the winner of the April 11, 2015 election.
The tribunal, led by Justice Musa Danladi Abubakar, in its judgment on Saturday, held that Ishaku was not nominated by the PDP due to the party’s failure to conduct its primary election in the state in line with section 177 of the Electoral Act.
The tribunal held that the party went ahead to conduct the December 11, 2014 primary in Abuja instead of Jalingo without giving explanation to the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The tribunal held that all votes cast to the governor on April 11 were wasted and declared Alhassan, who scored the next highest votes, winner of the election.
The tribunal ordered INEC to immediately withdraw the certificate of return issued to the governor and issue fresh one to Alhassan.
But the tribunal had dismissed the allegations by Alhassan and her party, the APC, to the effect that the April 11 election was marred by over-voting as the number of votes recorded during the election was more than the number of voters accredited by card reader.
The tribunal held that mere reliance on accreditation using card reader was not sufficient to prove over-voting.
The tribunal had earlier dismissed the four notices of preliminary objections filed by the respondents which challenged the jurisdiction of the tribunal and the locus standi of the petitioners to file the petition.
