The Court of Appeal in Abuja has upheld the election of Hyacinth Alia as the Governor of Benue State, dismissing the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Titus Uba.
The appeal sought to overturn the September 23 judgment of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which had validated Alia’s victory in the March 18 governorship election.
The court dismissed the allegation by Uba that the name of the governor, Hyacinth Alia, was not submitted by the APC to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, within 180 days before the election of March 18.
The court held that the allegation can’t survive because the primary election that produced Alia was ordered by a high Court and was done within the period ordered by the court.
The three-judge panel of the court unanimously held that the appeal lacked merit. It, therefore, affirmed the tribunal’s judgment, emphasising that the issues raised in the petition pertained to pre-election matters and that the PDP and Uba failed to provide compelling evidence to substantiate their claims of forgery against Samuel Ode, the APC’s deputy governorship candidate.
