The Benue State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Makurdi has dismissed the petition filed by Peoples Democratic Party and its governorship candidate, Titus Uba against the election of Governor Hyacinth Alia of the All Progressives Congress (APC)
The tribunal which upheld election of the Governor held on March 18, dismissed the petition of PDP on the ground that the court lacks the jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
Chairman of the three man panel of justices, Justice Ibrahim Karaye, maintained that the tribunal has no jurisdiction to entertain the petition as the matter raised before the tribunal are pre-election issues as captured in section 285 of the Electoral Act.
The tribunal in it’s ruling, said that the petitioner ought to have pursued it’s case of non-qualification and the nomination of Governor Alia by the APC and the allegation of forged certificate and false information on form EC9 against his deputy, Sam Ode before the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), beyond the Federal High Court which dismissed the earlier suit filed by the petitioner to the Court of Appeal and not the tribunal.
It will be recalled that INEC declared Governor Alia, a Catholic priest as the winner of the poll , after scoring 473,933 votes ahead of his closest rival Uba, who scored 223,913.
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