The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Monday affirmed the victory of Governor Hycinth Alia of Benue State in the last governorship election.
This was as the court dismissed the appeal by the Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate, Titus Uba.
The appeal had challenged the September 23 judgment of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which dismissed their petition against the return of Alia of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the governorship election held on March 18.
However, a three-member court panel resolved the three issues, distilled for determination, against the appellants and held that the appeal was without merit. In a unanimous judgment, the court affirmed the judgment of the tribunal because 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.
