S’Court affirms Alia as Benue gov, reserves judgment in Ebonyi appeal

Tamarauemi Ebimini

The Supreme Court, yesterday, dismissed the appeal by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in last year’s gubernatorial poll in Benue State.

Both the governorship election petition tribunal and Court of Appeal in Abuja had returned Hyacinth Alia as winner of the contest.

Not pleased with the judgments, Uba approached the apex court for redress.

But the three-member panel of justices, in a unanimous decision, dismissed Uba’s appeal as lacking in merit.

In its lead judgment delivered by Justice Onyekachi Aja Otisi, the apex court said it found no reason to set aside the verdict of the Benue State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which on September 23, 2023, validated Alia’s victory.

It held that some of the grounds the applicants raised in the appeal not only bordered on pre-election issues, but also had elements of crime.

The court noted that the appellants had raised the issue of forgery against the Deputy Governor, Samuel Ode.

It held that the allegation that Ode submitted forged documents to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to contest the election was criminal in nature, so, it ought to have been proven beyond reasonable doubt.

The court added that the issue of non-qualification of a candidate, being a pre-election matter, could only be ventilated at the Federal High Court, and not the election tribunal, as was done by the appellants.

Meanwhile, Governor Alia has hailed the verdict.

In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Tersoo Kula, in Makurdi shortly after the ruling, the Benue helmsman said that the Supreme Court’s decision has only reaffirmed the time-honoured mantra that power belongs to the people.

While dedicating his victory to the masses, the governor promised that he would continue to deliver on his campaign promises to the people.

In last year’s poll, Alia scored 473,933 votes to defeat his closest challenger and PDP candidate, Uba, who scored 223,913 votes. Candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Herman Hembe, recorded 41,881 ballots to come third.

Also, the apex court has reserved judgment in the Ebonyi State governorship election appeal for a date to be communicated to parties.

Sitting yesterday, Justice John Okoro reserved ruling after the parties adopted their briefs.

The Appeal Court in Lagos had earlier returned Francis Nwifuru as the duly elected governor of Ebonyi State.

In a unanimous decision, the three-member panel, led by Justice Jummai Sankey, dismissed the appeal filed by Chukwuma Odii of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The panel also resolved all five issues raised against the appellant and dismissed the appeal for lacking merit.

Justice Sankey held that the claimants lacked the legal right to meddle into the internal affairs of the All Progressives Congress, as it relates to nomination of candidates.