Ayorinde Oluokun/Abuja

Senator Aisha Alhassan: loses final appeal

Aisha Jummai Alhassan, fondly called ‘Mama Taraba’,  will now fully focus on her job as minister of women affairs.

The Supreme Court  in a unanimous judgement today effectively shut her out of Taraba Government House  till at least 2019, dismissing as ‘unmeritorious’ her appeal to be declared the governor of the state.

The court in a judgement read by Justice Bode Rhodes Vivour revalidated  the election of Governor Darius Ishaku , upholding the earlier verdict by the Court of Appeal. 

The reasons for the judgment would be given  22 February, Rhodes-Vivour said.

The judgement effectively dashed a countrywide hope of having a female governor installed in a state. Aisha Alhassan, candidate of the All Progressives Congress,  had raised the hope in April  2015 as the result of the state governorship election was being declared. But the final collation gave victory to the PDP candidate, Darius Ishaku.

Hope was raised again, after the state election tribunal ruled that Ishaku was improperly fielded as PDP candidate and ordered Alhassan to be sworn. But Ishaku appealed at the Appeal Court and upturned the verdict.

The tribunal had faulted the primary of the PDP, which  held in Abuja and ruled that Ishaku was not properly nominated by his party.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the Tribunal judgment, as it argued that only a member of a party can complain about its primaries. The Supreme Court which had in its ruling on the appeals on governorship election in Benue and some others places also maintained the same stance in its judgment delivered on Thursday.

Kanu Agabi, SAN counsel to the Taraba State Governor had cited the judgments of the Supreme Court in the Benue, and Zamfara appeals which were founded on an alleged lack of conduct of primaries, by the respondents and in which the apex court had dismissed the suits.