Tribunal upholds election of Alia as Benue governor

The election of Governor Hyacinth Alia has been upheld by the Benue State Governorship Elections Petition Tribunal sitting in Makurdi.

The tribunal, in its judgment on Saturday, declared Alia, of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as validly elected, while also dismissing the petition of the Peoples Democratic Party and its governorship candidate, Titus Uba.

The PDP and Uba had challenged the election held on March 18 for lack of jurisdiction to entertain the matter.

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Ripples Nigeria reports that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Alia the winner of the poll with 473,933 votes ahead of his closest rival, Uba, who scored 223,913.

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

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