Appeal courts sacks Aisha Alhassan and Governor Okezie Ikpeazu in Taraba and Abia

TARABA and Abia States are set for more political turmoil in 2016 after the Court of Appeal overturned the election tribunal's decision in their governorship contests and affirmed Darius Ishaku and Alex Otti as their respective governors.

 

At its sitting in Abuja yesterday, the court ruled that Mr Ishaku of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Mr Otti of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (Apga) were the winners of the April 11 governorship elections in Taraba and Abia States respectively. Earlier on in the year, an election tribunal has declared Hadjiya Aisha Alhassan of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of the PDP as the winners of the poll.

 

Delivering judgment on the appeals a five-member panel of justices headed by Justice Abdul Aboki set aside the ruling of the tribunal. Justice Aboki, who read the unanimous judgment, held that it was a gross misdirection for the tribunal to have declared Hadjiya Alhassan, popularly known as Mama Taraba, winner of the gubernatorial poll on the basis that she scored the second highest number of votes in the election.

 

In the case of Abia State, sitting in Owerri, the Appeal Court also nullified the election of incumbent governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu and declared Mr Otti as the winner of the poll. Just like he did at the tribunal, the Apga candidate contested the controversial results from Obingwa, Osisioma and Isiala Ngwa North Local Government Areas that the returning officer cancelled and later reversed.

However, the results from the three local governments turned out to be the determinant in the Appeal Court’s judgment delivered by Justice Oyebisi Omoleye. The five-member panel unanimously agreed that the controversial results should not have been included in the final results and therefore cancelled them and after doing the mathematics, held that Mr Otti scored the highest number of valid votes.

In the poll, Governor Ikpeazu had emerged winner with 264,713 votes as against 180,882 votes credited to Mr Otti by Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec), which was affirmed by the tribunal. However, after subtracting the scores of the candidates in the three council areas, the appeal panel held that Mr Otti scored a total of 164,332 votes as against 114,444 obtained by Governor Ikpeazu.

 

It is expected that Hadjiya Alhassan and Governor Ikpeazu will contest the rulings in the Supreme Court. For now, however, the governors of both states will remain in office pending the conclusion of the legal proceedings.