The Benue State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, sitting in Makurdi, has affirmed the election of All Progressives Congress (APC) Governor Hyacinth Alia.
The panel dismissed the appeal of the Peoples Democratic Party and its governorship candidate, Titus Uba, challenging the March 18 election for lack of jurisdiction.
Chairman of the three man panel of justices, Justice Ibrahim Karaye, held that the tribunal has no jurisdiction to entertain the petition as the matter raised before the tribunal are pre-election issues as captured in section 285 of the Electoral Act.
The tribunal hinged it’s decision on the fact that the petitioner ought to have pursued it’s case of non-qualification and the nomination of Governor Alia by the APC and the allegation of forged certificate and false information on form EC9 against his deputy, Sam Ode before the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), beyond the Federal High Court which dismissed the earlier suit filed by the petitioner to the Court of Appeal and not the tribunal.
According to the result declared by the INEC after the election in March, Alia, a Catholic priest won 473,933 votes ahead of his closest rival Uba, who scored 223,913.