The Benue State Governorship Elections Petition Tribunal sitting in Makurdi has upheld the election of Governor Hyacinth Alia of the All Progressives Congress.
The tribunal also 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.
Delivering the verdict on Saturday, the Chairman of the three-man panel of justices, Justice Ibrahim Karaye, held that the Tribunal had jurisdiction to entertain the PDP’s petition.
According to Justice Karaye, the issues raised in the petition were deemed to be pre-election matters in accordance with section 285 of the Electoral Act.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced
Governor Alia as the winner of the March 18 elections with 473,933 votes, while his running mate Titus Uba obtained 223,913 votes.
