Delegates elected from 168 electoral wards in Taraba State under the umbrella of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, (PDP), have rejected the decision of an Appeal Court sitting in Yola, dismissing its petition seeking to declare all candidates selected in the Abuja sham primary election of the party illegal.
The Appellate Court in Yola on Wednesday dismissed the Taraba PDP delegates appeal to declare all PDP candidates in the last election illegal and order a fresh primary election.
According to the Spokesperson of the over 400 PDP delegates and a delegate from Gassol local government area, Bala Ahmed in a statement, said the judgment failed to return delegates rights to lawfully elect candidates that will represent its party in an election.
Ahmed said it’s disturbing that the appeal was not allowed based on its merit, but was striken out based on technical ground, saying the Delegates will seek Justice at the Supreme Court.
“They were several allegations that the state governor moved several millions to Yola, we are now forced to believe that the judgment was bought over with money, money that should be used to pay workers’ salaries are now spent by the Taraba State Government to sustain their illegality against PDP delegates and members,” Ahmed said.
He maintained that PDP members in Taraba state were clearly and brazenly denied their right to elect candidates of their choice for the 2015 general election.
He said several elections have been nullified based on the irregular conduct of primary election conducted by the PDP and other pre-election matters.
He said if the primaries were held anywhere without the knowledge of relevant authorities and lawful delegates, the primaries should appropriately be declared as unconstitutional, null and void.
“The ruling of the Election Tribunal is very explicit and unambiguous; there were no PDP primaries in Taraba, simple, We were denied our voting rights to choose a candidate for our party, we strongly believed that the Supreme Court will restore these rights.”
He said the judgment was highly tinted, “the delegates will seek redress at the Supreme Court because nothing can supersede the rights of party members through their elected delegates to elect their candidates for an election,” Ahmed said.
