On Monday, the Taraba State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal reserved judgement in the petition submitted by Professor Sani M. Yahya, a candidate for the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), to challenge Governor Agbu Kefas of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the 2023 gubernatorial election.
Yahya is requesting the annulment of the election, which he claims was tainted by fraud.
Soon after the parties to the suit adopted their last written addresses, the tribunal reserved decision.
As soon as a date is chosen for the judgment, the parties will be notified, according to the tribunal’s head, Justice G.A. Sunmonu.
After the court session, the NNPP candidate’s main attorney, Barrister Ibrahim Ishaku, answered questions from the media and stated that the anomalies that marred the election were a factor in his client’s choice to file a complaint with the tribunal.
Ishaku claimed that the purported inability of the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BIVAS) equipment to authenticate voters during the election “was a clear indication that results declared from some of the polling units were not authentic”.
The attorney said that the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) findings “showed that there was over-voting in the state” and that they had been tampered with to favor the PDP.
Ishiaku demanded that the poll be called off and remembered that INEC had already acknowledged in its reports that the collation process had been plagued by violence brought on by sporadic gunfire fired by troops and police officers.
In response to Ishaku’s assertions, counsel for INEC, Barrister Emeka Okoro, SAN, claimed that the law does not operate on hearsay but rather on actual evidence in a conversation with media.
Okoro requested the tribunal to reject the plea because it was unfounded.
Journalists’ attempts to interview with PDP counsel Barrister Kalu Agabi, SAN, were unsuccessful because he shied away from answering their questions.