Tribunal upholds Benue gov, Alia’s election

VAM News Update

THE Benue State Governorship Elections Petition Tribunal sitting in Makurdi on Saturday upheld the election of Governor Hyacinth Alia of the All Progressives Congress.

The tribunal dismissed the petition of the Peoples Democratic Party and its governorship candidate, Titus Uba, challenging the election held on the 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.

Chairman of the three man panel of justices, Justice Ibrahim Karaye, held that the tribunal has no jurisdiction to entertain the petition as the matter raised before the tribunal are pre-election issues as captured in section 285 of the Electoral Act.