Court of Appeal Upholds Benue Governor’s Win

On Monday, the Court of Appeal in Abuja upheld the election victory of Hyacinth Alia as the governor of Benue State.

Titus Uba, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the March 18 governorship election, had appealed to the court to overturn the tribunal’s judgment, which had earlier affirmed Alia’s election. Uba alleged, among other things, that Alia’s deputy, Samuel Ode, submitted a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission, contrary to Section 182(1)(j) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).

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 Uba also claimed that Alia’s name was submitted less than 180 days before the election date, and Ode was not submitted to INEC after the party conducted a further re-run primary election. However, the three-member panel of the tribunal dismissed the petition, citing it as a pre-election matter and statute-barred.

In its ruling on the appeal, the Court of Appeal held that Uba failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt the allegations of forgery against Ode.