Justice Simone Amobeda of the Federal High Court Jalingo has dismissed the suit seeking the disqualification of the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Taraba state, Kefas Agbu.
A gubernatorial aspirant in the concluded PDP party primaries challenged his victory alleging that Mr Agbu was not qualified to participate in the May 25th, 2022 governorship primaries of the party on the ground that he was the party’s serving state chairman.
But the judge ruled that the plaintiff was unable to prove his allegations convincingly.
It appears that the Peoples Democratic Party in Taraba State may not go into the 2023 gubernatorial polls as a divided home.
Now, the High court in Jalingo has put to rest the issue of illegality of the party’s candidate for the 2023 governorship election.
A PDP gubernatorial aspirant at the May 25th, 2022 primaries had approached a court to challenge the process that brought in the party’s gubernatorial flag bearer.
He urged the court to disqualify him on the grounds that he was the party’s state chairman before the primary, stressing that he was not screened by the screening committee in Bauchi state.
Delivering judgment, the presiding judge, Simone Amobeda, said the plaintiff failed to prove his allegations as expected.
Elated, counsels to Mr Agbu, as well as those of PDP and INEC, lauded the judge for the ruling.
The lead counsel to the PDP, Musa Tende, said the court made an expository analysis of the primary election.
On his part, lead counsel to the plaintiff, Pius D. Pius, said they had resolved to appeal the judgement
Many PDP chieftains called on the aggrieved members to sheath their swords for the interest of the party.
With the court ruling, the leadership of PDP in Taraba state is expected offer its aggrieved members an olive branch in order to form a formidable front going into the 2023 polls.
