Taraba Guber Judgement: A Triumph Of The Judiciary

The judiciary often times is referred to as the last hope of the common man. The court is a place where an aggrieved party is most likely to get justice and when a matter is decided in a law court it is deemed sacrosanct.

The law courts in Nigeria have been quite busy in recent times adjudicating on electoral matters involving various parties in the electoral process. One of such cases is that of the Taraba state governorship election which the Appeal Court sitting in Abuja upheld the election of Governor Darius Ishaku.

This case has drawn a lot of attention and comments from various quarters as the political landscape seems to be shifting in favor of the ruling All Progressives Congress APC Party. The Peoples Democratic Party has lost so many states to the APC and the entire nation is watching to see whether Taraba would become one of the states that would fall to APC. The Taraba gubernatorial election was keenly contested and the result of the election is still being contested as the APC candidate, Hajia Aisha Alhassan is heading for the Supreme Court following the ruling of the Appeal Court that upheld the election of Darius Ishaku. This case is quite interesting as the Election petition Tribunal that sat in Taraba had nullified the election of Daruis Ishaku. The question on the lips of many people was that, ‘are Nigerians about to see the first female governor of Taraba state?’ However, when the case came before the Appeal Court in Abuja, the hope of having a female governor in Taraba was dashed.

The perception in certain quarters was that the judiciary might decide the case in favour of APC due to the fact that APC is the ruling party and that PDP had lost ground in so many states and Taraba might not be an exception. The APC candidate Hajia Aisha Alhassan even made allusions to the fact that she was sure of the case being decided in her favour days before the Appeal Court judgement but to her surprise she lost out. This demonstrates that whatever the manipulations and intrigues that had gone on behind the scene prior to the Appeal Court judgement the judges stood their ground. This is kudos and triumph of the judiciary as it has demonstrated the independence of the judiciary and also buttressed the fact that people can still get justice in the law courts.

Supporters of the governor should not be daunted or distracted by the fact the APC candidate is heading for the Supreme Court since the Appeal Court judges have clearly demonstrated the independence of the judiciary and that Nigerians can still get justice in the law courts.

It will be recalled that in the twilight of 2015 the Appeal Court in Abuja had affirmed Darius Ishaku as the duly elected governor of Taraba State. The judgement came as a welcome development as it calmed the frayed nerves of the citizenry of the state that had watched with bated breath as the political drama continued to unfold. The Abuja appellate court had set aside the decision of the state Election Petitions Tribunal, which earlier sacked the governor from office based on pre-election matters.

Bambur wrote in from Abuja.