Taraba: Tribunal rejects INEC"s relocation request

The Taraba State governorship election tribunal has declined a request by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to relocate to the state.

The President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bilkachuwa, empowered by the Constitution to constitute election tribunals in respect of disputed polls, set up the Taraba governorship tribunal in Abuja owing to security challenges in the state.

Tribunal Chairman, Justice Musa Danladi Abubakar, in a ruling on Saturday rejected INEC’s opposition to the tribunal’s sitting in Abuja and dismissed its motion challenging the tribunal’s jurisdiction to sit in the nation’s capital and hear a petition filed by the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the last election, Hajia Aisha Alhassan and her party.

Justice Abubakar held that the tribunal was validly constituted by the Court of Appeal President in line with her constitutional powers.

INEC had in its motion, challenged the decision of the Court of Appeal President to direct the tribunal’s sitting in Abuja.

It argued that the tribunal ought to sit in the state where the election was held.

The commission  also noted that the state’s legislative election tribunal is currently sitting in Jalingo, the state capital.

 

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