Pre-election petitions: Court unveils losers and winners in Taraba | Tellwell Newspaper
Tellwell Newspaper, Abuja – Nigeria:
From Godwin Agia, Jalingo
The Federal High Court sitting in Taraba State capital, Jalingo has rolled out judgements on the 2023 pre-election suits filed by aggrieved parties in the various primary elections across political parties.
In the judgements delivered so far by the Presiding judge of the Federal High Court in the State, Justice Simon Amobeda, some parties had grabbed a second round victory, giving rise to jubilations in some political quarters of the state, while those who lost out have returned to their shells to lick their wounds, meditating on the next line of action.
Tellwell Newspaper gathered that the most striking judgement that generated anxiety 
among the people before it was passed was that of the case filed by Professor Jerome Nyame against the People’s Democratic Party’s candidate in the state, Colonel Agbu Kefas (retired).
Professor Nyameh had dragged the PDP candidate to court, challenging his election over the violation of Part VII, Article 1 of the Electoral Guidelines for the Primary Elections of the party, having failed to resign as the state party chairman, among other claims.
According to Professor Nyameh’s submission, the primary election was held on May 25, which was only six days after Agbu resigned, and many days after the screening of aspirants on April 28, when he was still the state party chairman.
Nyameh further submitted that Agbu only resigned via a letter dated May 17, 2022, which was received at the national headquarters of the party on 19 May, 2022. Later, the Speaker of Taraba State House of Assembly, Professor Joseph Albasu Kunini applied to join Professor Nyame in the suit against the PDP candidate.
But in a ruling, the court dismissed the two petitions, affirming Colonel Kefas as the Taraba State PDP candidate for the 2023 gubernatorial election, thus giving him a clean bill of health to proceed on his journey to the Taraba State Government House.
Another judgement that drew public attention was the one in the case between the Taraba State All Progressives Congress’ Candidate, Senator Emmanuel Bwacha and Chief David Sabo Kente.
Chief Kente had in May, 2022 dragged the gubernatorial candidate of APC in Taraba State, Senator Bwacha and INEC before the court, alleging that the primary election that produced the Senator as the governorship candidate of the party was never conducted, which was a flagrant breach of the APC constitution that stipulates the conduct of primary election for the emergence of a candidate on the platform of the party.
Chief Kente sought the disqualification of Senator Bwacha as the governorship candidate of the party and prayed the court to restrain him from contesting the 2023 governorship poll on the party’s platform, asking the court to order the conduct of a fresh governorship primary election of the party.
In the ruling, the High Court Presiding Judge, Justice Simon Amobeda, granted the prayers of Chief Kente and dismissed Senator Bwacha as the gubernatorial candidate of APC in the state. The court also directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a fresh governorship primary election within 14 days. It further stopped Senator Bwacha from parading himself as the governorship candidate of the APC and directed that INEC should stop recognizing him as a candidate for the 2023 General Elections.
In the judgement between Senator Tutare and Bashir Marafa, Justice Amobeda declared Bashir Marafa as the authentic candidate of the APC for the Taraba Central Senatorial seat.
Senator Tutare had approached the court on the ground that he was the winner of a primary election for the Taraba Central Senatorial seat that was conducted on the May 29, making him the bonafide APC candidate, although APC rejected his claim on the ground that it did not authorize the conduct of primary election on the May 29. The party maintained that the election that was authorized was the one of May 28, which it said was conducted in compliance with the provisions of the electoral act and monitored by INEC.
The party further argued that after a primary election known to law was conducted on May 28, it was not possible for the same election to have been conducted on the May 29 which was not monitored by INEC, contrary to Senator Tutare’s claim.
Delivering judgement in the suit, Justice Amobeda, declared that the court, having passionately gone through the various evidence and submissions of the parties in the case, the plaintiff, Senator Tutare, had failed to prove his case beyond reasonable doubt. The court therefore, declared the defendant, Bashir Marafa, the authentic candidate of the APC for the Taraba Central Senatorial seat for the 2023 general elections.
Similarly, the court has sacked Mubarak Gambo, the Taraba State APC candidate for Bali -Gassol House of Representatives for the 2023 general elections and ordered for a fresh primary election within 14 days.
For the tussle between Nurudeen Ibrahim and Hon. Maigari Bello Kasimu over the APC ticket for Jalingo/Yorro/Zing Federal Constituency, the court affirmed Hon. Kasimu as the legitimate winner in the party’s primary election.
Outside the realm of politics, the Federal High nullified the election of Timothy Magaji as the Taraba State chairman of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
In his ruling on Tuesday, Justice Amobeda declared that having gone through the evidence and submissions of the parties in the suit, the plaintiff, Mahmud Sanusi had established his case beyond any iota of doubt, and based on the preponderance of evidence presented before the court, he was the rightful winner of the June 12, 2019 Taraba NFF election which was conducted in Bali Local Government Area of the state.
The court further ordered that Timothy Magaji should henceforth stop parading himself as the chairman of the NFF in Taraba state, and directed NFF not to recognize any other person apart from Mahmud Sanusi, who validly worn the election.
