The Court of Appeal, Abuja has affirmed the judgment of Taraba State Governorship Election petition upholding the re-election of Darius Ishaku of the Peoples Democratic Party in the March 9, 2019 governorship poll in Taraba State.

Celestina Iria reports recalled that on 29th September,a three member panel of the Taraba state governorship election tribunal led by Justice Adewara unanimously dismissed a petition by the All progressives Congress and its governorship candidate Abubakar Danladi challenging the outcome of the election.

The tribunal had held that the petitioners failed to prove their claims that the election was marred by irregularities and non-compliance with the Electoral Act.

It added that a Federal High Court in Taraba State had given a judgment on March 6, 2019, in a disqualifying Mr Danladi from contesting the election.

Justice Adewara had noted that the affirmation of the judgment by the Supreme Court implied that the APC had no valid candidate in the election. Not satisfied the petitioner approached the court of Appeal.

At the court of Appeal a five member panel led by justice Chidi Uwama held that a candidate who was not qualified to participate in an election is not a candidate.

Unanimously, the justices held that the judgment of the federal high court on 6th March 2019, which disqualified Abubakar Danladi had not been upturn and still subsisted. They added that a deputy candidate can not be substituted for a candidate that was disqualified.

The court of Appeal thus concluded that the tribunal was right to have ruled that the appellant did not participate in the election.

The court concluded that the petitioners failed to lead sufficient evidence to establish the claims in their petition that the governor and his party, the PDP, failed to poll the majority of lawful votes.