Court confirms Bakaris as Acting Chairman, ending Taraba PDP leadership crisis

After the State High Court’s decision in Jalingo, which reinstated Alhaji Inuwa Bakaris as interim Chairman, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chapter in Taraba State was no longer experiencing a leadership crisis.

By finding Abubakar Bawa’s designation as acting party chairman by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party following the resignation of the substantive chairman null and unlawful, the court on Monday upheld Bakaris’ status as acting party chairman. Justice S. A. Nuhu delivered the decision.

Read Also: Idahosa disagrees with Cardinal Onaiyekan over 2023 elections

Invoking clause 47(6) of the PDP Constitution, Justice Nuhu determined that the State Working Committee, not the National Working Committee, which had chosen Bawa, had the authority to name a state chairman. As a result, Bawa’s appointment was ruled unconstitutional and unlawful.

The purpose of the lawsuit, which pitted Bakari, Shamang Moses, and Ibrahim Abdullahi against the PDP and Bawa as defendants, was to contest the validity of Bakari’s ouster and Bawa’s selection as the party’s acting chairman by the NWC.

As a result, Justice Nuhu declared that Bawa is no longer recognised as the state’s PDP chairman and is forbidden from acting in that capacity as of the verdict.

Bawa, who served as Governor Darius Ishaku’s Special Adviser (Political Affairs), was sworn in as acting chairman of the PDP Taraba State chapter, which went against the wishes of many party members who believed Governor Ishaku had violated the party’s constitution.

Bakari, the party’s vice chairman, stepped in as interim chairman after Lt. Col. Agbu Kefas (rtd.) resigned to run in the party’s gubernatorial primary, which he won. Bakari later became the state’s governor.