On Saturday, the Benue State Governorship Elections Petition Tribunal in Makurdi upheld the election of Governor Hyacinth Alia from the All Progressives Congress. The Independent National Electoral Commission had previously declared him the winner of the poll with 473,933 votes, beating his closest rival Uba who scored 223,913.
The Peoples Democratic Party and its governorship candidate, Titus Uba, filed a petition challenging the March 18 election results. However, the tribunal dismissed the petition due to a lack of jurisdiction to hear the case.
According to the Independent National Electoral Commission, Alia won the election with 473,933 votes, while Uba received 223,913 votes.
The Chairman of the three-man panel of justices, Justice Ibrahim Karaye, held that the tribunal has no jurisdiction to entertain the petition as the matters raised before the tribunal are pre-election. ssues as captured in section 285 of the Electoral Act.