The ruling of the Federal High Court in Jalingo, which nullified the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary election in Taraba State, has been overturned by the Court of Appeal sitting in Yola, Adamawa State.
NewsXtra reports that on September 20, 2022, the lower court removed Senator Emmanuel Bwacha as the APC’s candidate for governor of Taraba in the 2023 election.
Chief David Sabo Kente and Senator Abubakar Yusuf, two APC governorship aspirants, both alleged irregularities in the primary election and filed lawsuits challenging its results.
To overturn the Federal High Court’s decision that voided his triumph, Bwacha filed an appeal.
The appellate court validated Bwacha’s election as the APC’s candidate for governor of Taraba State in a judgement issued on Thursday.
On Thursday, a three-person panel chaired by Justice Tani Yusuf overturned the federal high court ruling in Jalingo.
Bwacha hailed the verdict as a win for democracy, the people of Taraba State, and the APC in his reaction to the ruling.
Through his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Reqwesin Muri, the APC governorship candidate, claimed that the Appeal Court’s verdict accurately represented the conduct of the party’s governorship primary election in Taraba State.
“We listened to the judgement delivered by the Federal High Court in Jalingo in September, we kept wondering why the Judge ignored all the reports from the national secretariat of the APC, the panel that conducted the primaries also submitted their report, but it was ignored.
“We want to thank the supporters of Senator Bwacha, members of APC in the State and the media for standing by the truth till today.”
If elected governor of Taraba State in 2023, “I also want to assure the people of the State of the determination of Senator Emmanuel Bwacha to rescue the State from the PDP’s terrible governance,” Muri said.