S’Court Upholds Ishaku’s Election, ‘Mama Taraba’Remains Minister
PDP, Ekweremadu, others celebrate Nyako’s impeachment nullified
The Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision yesterday, upheld the election of Taraba State Governor, Mr. Darius Ishaku of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), effectively putting paid to the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Senator Aisha Alhassan’s bid to become the first female governor in the country and confining her to the Ministry of Women Affairs where she is currently the minister.
In the lead judgment delivered by Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour, the Supreme Court held that the appeal by the APC and its candidate lacked merit and substance.
The court upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal, which had also dismissed the petition filed by Alhassan and her party.
The Court of Appeal had held that APC and Alhassan could not query the validity of the nomination of Ishaku since they were not members of the PDP which sponsored him.
The Taraba State Governorship Election Tribunal had declared Alhassan winner of the election after holding that Ishaku was not validly nominated.
The governor was dissatisfied and went to the Court of Appeal. His appeal was allowed and the judgment of the tribunal set aside.
Not satisfied with the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Alhassan and her party appealed to the Supreme Court but the court ruled against them.
Justice Rhodes-Vivour said he would give reasons for his judgment on February 22, 2016.
Following the Supreme Court ruling, Jalingo, the Taraba State capital, and several other towns in the state broke into wild jubilations yesterday, despite Ishaku’s admonition to his supporters to celebrate his victory with moderation.
Immediately news of the ruling filtered into the town at 2.10 pm, some areas in the ancient town were thrown into frenzy including Wukari and Takum, Ishaku’s hometown.
Groups of PDP supporters, mainly youths, went round some areas in the state capital with vehicles mounted with loud speakers singing and dancing and were egged on by other jubilant and enthusiastic crowds that lined the streets.
Songs and choruses were rendered, including chants: “Taraba Sai Darius”, “DDI No Shaking”, “Masu Gudu Su Gudu”, which literally means those “running should run”, even as the PDP motorcade blocked major streets in Jalingo in celebration.
As the procession moved round the town, the crowd of supporters kept swelling as several other youths who were oblivious of the ruling joined the procession to make the celebration even more elaborate.
THISDAY gathered that the situation was the same at Takum, Wukari, Zing, Kurmi and Donga Local Government Areas.
A former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in the state, Emmanuel Bello, said with the ruling, the Supreme Court has indicated that it has the interest of the country at heart.
He however enjoined the governor to embrace all the people of the state as a father, irrespective of their political leanings and get everyone’s input in moving the state forward stressing: “Ishaku must work towards uniting the people of Taraba to achieve the goals of the rescue mission.”
Also, the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Alhaji Hassan Mijinyawa, described the judgment as a victory for the people, saying it was a confirmation of the people’s wish and mandate they gave to Ishaku.
He appealed to the supporters of the governor to be joyous but celebrate the victory with moderation to avoid security breaches, just as he called on the opposition in the state not to give up hope in democracy and urged them to join hands with the governor to move the state forward.
Reacting to the judgment, the Chairman of APC in Taraba State, Alhaji Hassan Ardo Jika, said the party had accepted the verdict of the Supreme Court in good faith, adding that they remain committed to the party despite the loss.
“The Supreme Court has a final say in this matter and we accept the verdict in good faith. I thank all who in one way or the other assisted us in the judicial journey. Our supporters should be calm and law abiding,” he stated.
On its part, the PDP said that the judiciary had shown that it remains the window of hope for democracy to strive in this country.
A statement by the acting National Chairman of the party, Chief Uche Secondus, said that the bold and patriotic approach of the Supreme Court in the various tribunal cases has gone a long way to show that it is indeed the last hope of the downtrodden.
“Without such landmark judgments from the Supreme Court, perhaps there would have been no Nigeria and we salute them for their courage in delivering justice to the people.
“We therefore warn APC and the federal government to stop insulting the judiciary, as there is nowhere in the world where a ruling party goes about hurling abuses at the judiciary,” he said.
According to the PDP, the Supreme Court ruling not only established the judiciary as a utility arm in stabilising the nation’s polity but as the voice of the voiceless.
“The ruling is a vivid reflection of the will of the people of Taraba State and goes a long way to show the strength of our party in the state,” PDP said.
While congratulating the governor for his victory, the party charged him to remain resolute in delivering the dividends of democracy to the people in line with the manifesto of the PDP.
Secondus also congratulated the people of Taraba for their resilience in standing up for democracy and charged them to remain steadfast in their support for the PDP, “especially now that it had become obvious that the APC has nothing to offer Nigerians”.
Also, the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, hailed the decision of the Supreme Court affirming the election of Ishaku as the governor of Taraba.
Ekweremadu said the judgment conformed with the precedents of the Supreme Court on the nomination of candidates by political parties.
He said: “I want to congratulate my brother, Ishaku, on this well-deserved victory, and commend the Supreme Court for standing solidly on the side of truth and for preserving the sanctity of the ballot box. One can say that in the Supreme Court, the people’s mandate has found refuge once again.
“Importantly, the judgment is in line with the Supreme Court’s established precedents, including the recent cases of Zamfara and Benue States. I therefore commend their Lordships for their consistency and also for adjudicating without fear or favour. I call on all parties to accept the verdict in good faith.”
Ekweremadu said he was confident that Ishaku would continue to reciprocate the immense goodwill and trust reposed in him and the PDP by the people of Taraba by providing quality and selfless governance that would take development to every nook and cranny of the state.
In his message, Delta State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, congratulated Ishaku on the affirmation of his electoral victory by the Supreme Court.
In statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Charles Ehiedu Aniagwu, Okowa enjoined Ishaku to extend a hand of fellowship to his opponents and ensure that the state gets purposeful leadership.
“I have been there and can attest to the level of distraction a governor and his administration encounter on account of some needless litigations, but a calm disposition and open-mindedness towards all, including your opponents, is what defines a true leader,” Okowa said.
He urged Ishaku to pursue policies that would define him as a good ambassador of the PDP considering that most of the states around him are controlled by the ruling APC.
He thanked the people of Taraba for standing behind their governor and heeding his call for calm and patience all through the litigation and appealed to Tarabans to blur the lines of political differences in the interest of the development of the state.
Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal sitting in Yola yesterday struck out the appeal of former Governor Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State to be returned as governor of the state on the grounds that his tenure had elapsed.
The court however nullified his impeachment, ruling that his removal from office was premised on “impunity, recklessness, rascality and constituted a gross abuse of legislative powers”.
The court also ordered that Nyako be accorded all rights of the office of the governor of Adamawa State throughout his legally recognised period in office.
The five judges led by Justice Hannatu Sankey unanimously condemned in totality the gross abuse of legislative powers by the Adamawa State House of Assembly to achieve a premeditated and selfish agenda.
Nyako was impeached on July 16, 2014 following allegations of gross misconduct levelled against him by the members of the House of Assembly, compelling him to go to court to seek the enforcement of his fundamental human rights, contending that the impeachment was carried out without recourse to the rule of law.
In the judgment, all the judges agreed that the impeachment of the governor was a misuse of the powers and privileges of the legislature, describing it as null and void and of no effect.
Justice Tunde Ayotoye, while reading the judgment, said the respondents took the law into their hands, as they flagrantly abused the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to meet their whimsical and selfish desires.
Also, Justice Hannatu Sankey said the court as the last resort to justice would not fold its arms and watch impunity being entrenched in the country.
She noted that the failure of the House of Assembly to adhere to the constitutional provision of personal service of impeachment notice on the former governor was a misnomer, which must be uprooted.
The court condemned in strong terms the arrogance of the lawmakers and some politicians who flagrantly refused to obey court orders stopping them from going ahead with the impeachment process despite the order of the High Court in Adamawa that stopped the move to set up a panel to investigate the governor.