Breaking: Appeal court affirms Alia as Benue governor

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has dismissed the appeal by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the last governorship election in Benue state, Titus Uba.

The appeal had challenged the September 23 judgment of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal which dismissed their petition against the return of Hyacinth Alia of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the governorship election held on March 18.

A three-member panel of the court, in a unanimous judgment, resolved the three issues, distilled for determination, against the appellants and held that the appeal was without merit.

The court affirmed the judgment of the tribunal on the grounds that, not only were issues raised in the petition pre-election matters, but the PDP and its candidate failed to prove their claim of forgery raised against the APC’s deputy governorship candidate in the election – Samuel Ode – beyond reasonable doubt as required.

Details later…