The Supreme Court has deferred judgment on appeals seeking the removal of Governor Ahmad Aliyu of Sokoto State and Governor Kefas Agbu of Taraba State.
The five-member panel, led by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, reserved judgment after the adoption of briefs by parties involved.
The appellants, Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate Saidu Umar, represented by Sunday Ameh, urged the court to grant their appeal, while Chief Wole Olanipekun, representing Governor Ahmad Aliyu of the APC, urged the court to dismiss the appeal for lack of merit.
Ameh stressed the need to allow the appeal, seeking various reliefs, while Olanipekun requested the court to uphold the concurrent judgments of the Sokoto State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and the Court of Appeal, affirming Aliyu’s election.
In a separate case, the Supreme Court also reserved judgment in the appeal challenging the election of Dr. Kefas Agbu of the PDP as the governor of Taraba State. The Court of Appeal had dismissed the appeal by the New Nigerian Peoples Party and its governorship candidate, Prof. Yahaya Sani, for inconsistency in their petition against the March 18 governorship election.
Justice Peter Affen, delivering the unanimous judgment, noted that NNPP and Sani sought both nullification of the election and a declaration as winners, which is legally impermissible.
The Court of Appeal further held that the incomplete record of proceedings rendered the appeal incompetent, leading to its dismissal for lacking merit.
It is worth noting that the Taraba State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal had earlier dismissed NNPP’s petition on September 30, deeming it lacking in merit.
