The All Progressives Congress candidate in the last governorship election in Taraba State, Hajia Aisha Alhassan and her party have faulted a request by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the relocation of the election tribunal to the state.
The President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bilkachuwa, empowered bythe Constitution to put together election tribunals in respect of disputed elections, set up the Taraba governorship tribunal in Abuja due to security challenges in the state.
INEC in a motion challenged the sitting of the tribunal in Abuja. It argued that the tribunal ought to be sited in the state where the election was held.
It also noted that the state’s legislative election tribunal is currently sitting in Jalingo, the state capital.
INEC urged the tribunal to relocate to the state.
But in a counter-argument on Friday, lawyer to Alhassan and APC, Mahmud Magaji (SAN) faulted INEC’s request, wondering why the electoral umpire was more concerned about the location of the tribunal than the other respondents.
“INEC is crying more than the bereaved. The main respondents to this petition (Governor Darius Ishaku and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party) have not challenged this tribunal’s decision to sit in Abuja,” Magaji said.
He wondered why INEC, with its headquarters in Abuja was uncomfortable with the tribunal’s sitting in the nation’s capital.
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