Tribunal committed grave error in Taraba – Ozekhome

Human rights’ lawyer,  Mike Ozekhome, yesterday said the election petition tribunal in Taraba State had committed  “grave error” in its judgment that sacked  Governor Darius Ishaku.
Ozekhome noted that the ground upon which the tribunal sacked  Ishaku of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and declared the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Senator Aisha Al-Hassan contravened the provisions of  the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act 2010 as amended.
Speaking on the outcome of the case which is generating heated debate in the polity, Ozekhome noted that Ishaku has the option of appeal within 21 days.
He explained that Section 85 (1) which empowers the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to monitor political parties’ primaries used ‘May’ and not ‘Shall’.
“Therefore, it is not compulsory for INEC to monitor political party primaries,” he said, noting that “the tribunal has the power to nullify election if it found out that the winner of that election did not score the highest number of votes.”