The Benue State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Makurdi has dismissed the petitions of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the March 18 governorship election, Titus Uba.
Subsequently, the court ruled that Governor Hyacinth Alia of the All Progressives Congress (APC) remained the authentic election winner.
The court dismissed Uba and the PDP’s petitions over its lack of jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
Justice Ibrahim Karaye-led three-person panel of justices maintained that the court did not have the jurisdiction to hear the issues raised by the petitioners before the tribunal, adding that they were pre-election matters, spelt out in section 285 of the Electoral Act.
Why tribunal dismisses PDP’s petition against Governor Alia in Benue State
According to the court, the PDP and Uba should have pursued their case beyond the Federal High Court that dismissed the suits they filed to the Court of Appeal rather than bringing it before the tribunal.
Before the federal high court, the PDP and Uba had argued that Alia was not qualified to be nominated by the APC and alleged that Alia’s deputy, Sam Ode, had a forged certificate and had presented false information to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Alia, a Catholic priest, garnered 473,933 votes to defeat Uba of the PDP 223,913 and was subsequently declared the winner of the March 19 governorship election in the state.
