The Supreme Court of Nigeria has affirmed Colonel Kefas Agbu (Rtd) as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Taraba State.

Delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the judgement of the apex court upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal sitting in Yola, Adamawa state that dismissed two different suits challenging the eligibility of Kefas to contest the governorship primary election of the PDP in Taraba state.

The twin appeals dismissed by the apex Court were those by two contenders for the governorship ticket, Hilkiah Buba-Joda, and Jerome Nyameh.

The court, in the Judgement, held that the appellants acted in breach of Sections 84 and 87(9) of the Electoral Act by failing to make use of the primary election dispute mechanism as contained in the party’s guidelines.

Both appeals were deemed premature and lacking in merit as they were instituted without exploring the internal party options to seek redress before heading to the court.

The apex Court also stated that the failure of the appellants to include other aspirants who took part in the primary election at the early stages of the trial robbed them of the right to a fair hearing.

At the governorship primary, Agbu won the contest with 443 votes out of the 517 votes cast.