Court of Appeal Affirms Kefas Agbu as Taraba State Governor, Dismisses NNPP’s Challenge

In a decisive ruling on Tuesday evening, the Court of Appeal in Abuja upheld the election victory of Kefas Agbu as the Governor of Taraba State.

The three-member panel of justices, led by Justice Peter Affen, delivered a unanimous judgment, dismissing the challenge brought by the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and its governorship candidate, Prof. Yahaya Sani.

Justice Affen highlighted that the appellants, NNPP and Sani, were inconsistent in their petition against the March 28 governorship election.

While seeking the nullification of the election due to non-compliance with the electoral act, they simultaneously requested the court to declare them as winners based on having a majority of lawful votes.

The court emphasized that it is against the law for litigants to pursue contradictory claims simultaneously, stating, “blowing hot and cold at the same time” is impermissible.

Justice Affen noted that the alternative prayer for declaring them winners lacked a legal foundation, given their primary plea for nullification.

Furthermore, the Court of Appeal pointed out that the record of proceedings submitted by the appellants was incomplete, rendering their appeal incompetent.

Consequently, the court dismissed the appeal for lacking merit and affirmed the judgment of the tribunal, which had earlier dismissed NNPP’s petition on September 30, deeming it lacking in merit.