The Benue State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Makurdi has upheld the election of Governor Hyacinth Alia of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that the petition of the Peoples Democratic Party and its governorship candidate, Titus Uba, challenging the election of Alia was dismissed by the tribunal on Saturday.
The tribunal said it lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
The Chairman of the three-man panel of justices, Justice Ibrahim Karaye, held that the petition raised are pre-election issues as captured in section 285 of the Electoral Act.
The tribunal based its decision on the petitioner’s failure to pursue the cases of non-qualification and the nomination of Governor Alia by the APC, as well as the allegations of forged certificates and false information on form EC9 against his deputy, Sam Ode, beyond the Federal High Court.
An earlier suit filed by the petitioner was dismissed by the Federal High Court.
Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), following the March election, declared Governor Alia, a Catholic priest, the winner with 473,933 votes, surpassing his closest rival, Uba, who received 223,913 votes.
