The Benue State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Makurdi has upheld the election of Governor Hyacinth Alia of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The tribunal dismissed the petition of the Peoples Democratic Party and its governorship candidate, Titus Uba, challenging the election held on March 18 for lack of jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had declared Alia the winner of the poll with 473,933 votes ahead of his closest rival Uba, who scored 223,913.
In a unanimous decision read by the Chairman of the three-man panel, Justice Ibrahim Karaye held that the petition was a pre-election matter.
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.
