Supreme Court Affirms Alia’s Governorship Seat

The Supreme Court has affirmed the election of Governor Hycinth Alia of Benue State.

The ruling by the Supreme Court came after Sebastian Hon, the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) attorney for Titus Uba, withdrew his appeal, he had earlier challenged the victory of Alia of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Alia the winner of the March 18 governorship election, which the Election Petitions Tribunal and the Court of Appeal, Abuja, affirmed. 

Because the case concerned a pre-election issue, the Court of Appeal had declared that it lacked jurisdiction to consider it.

The court determined that Uba ought to have brought the forgery case to the high court against Sam Ode, the deputy governor.

The ruling further stated that Uba was unable to establish beyond a reasonable doubt Ode’s forgery accusations.

The PDP candidate took the case to the Supreme Court on Monday, and the highest court upheld Alia’s election while rejecting his appeal.

In Benue, the PDP lost power to Alia, a first-time candidate for governorship.  Alia succeeded PDP politician Samuel Ortom after serving as the governor of the state for eight years.