Taraba Tribunal Verdict: Eight Dead In Post-Judgment Crisis

At least eight people have been killed, while 30 others sustained injuries in the crisis that erupted in Wukari Kingdom of Taraba state following the verdict of the State’s Governorship Election Petition Tribunal that nullified the election of Mr Darius Ishaku as governor of Taraba State.

The Police Command in the State said that though the police had not concluded investigation, the crisis may not be unconnected with the ruling of the Tribunal.

A former Vice-chairman of Wukari Local Government Council, Tanimu Danlele, gave reporters the casualty figure and called on security agents to be vigilant in order to forestall a recurrence.

The Tribunal had on Saturday declared Aisha Alhassan, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the April 11 election winner of the polls.

“Bizarre Decision”

The Tribunal said Mr Ishaku did not emerge candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in a proper primary election.

After the verdict, the Senior Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Taraba State Governor, Mr Sylanus Yakubu described the ruling of the Election Petition Tribunal as a “rape of democracy“.

Speaking to Channels Television via phone, Mr Yakubu said: “As far as we are concerned in Taraba State and as far as the government of Arc Darius Ishiaku is concerned, this is a rape on democracy. It is a judicial rascality”.

The PDP has also described the judgement as “another evidence of executive interference” in the judiciary.

The party said the reason given by the Tribunal for arriving at what it termed “bizarre decision” was intriguing and further exposed the “contradictions and double standards” inherent in most Tribunal rulings against PDP interests recently.

In response to the issues raised by the PDP and Governor Ishaku, the APC said  he judgment was the clearest indication that the PDP had started harvesting what it sowed in its years of impunity and recklessness.

In a statement issued on Sunday by the ruling party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr Lai Mohammed, the APC said that the PDP had always been a party of “anything goes”.