In a decisive ruling on Monday, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Titus Tyoapine Uba, challenging the election and victory of Hyacinth Iormem Alia as the Governor of Benue State in the March 18th Governorship poll.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Alia and his Deputy, Sam Ode, as the winners of the election with 473,933 votes, defeating their closest challengers, Uba and Ngbede of the PDP, who secured 223,913 votes.
Unsatisfied with the election results, Uba and the PDP filed a petition seeking certain reliefs related to the qualifications of the Governor and Deputy-Governor. The petition was anchored on allegations that the Deputy-Governor, Sam Ode, was not qualified to contest the election due to invalid sponsorship and submission of false information to INEC.
The tribunal, led by Justice Ibrahim Musa Karaye, ruled on 23/09/2023, that issues of nomination, sponsorship, and disqualification fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, not the tribunal. Additionally, the tribunal criticized the petitioners for raising similar issues in a previous case at the Federal High Court, which they lost.
Undeterred, the PDP and Uba took the case to the Court of Appeal, where Justice Onyekachi Aja Otisi concurred with the lower court’s judgment, stating that the petitioners failed to prove the forgery claim against Sam Ode beyond a reasonable doubt.
In a final attempt, the matter reached the Supreme Court, where Justice Inyang Okoro, leading a 5-man panel, advised the PDP/Uba’s lawyer, Sebastian Hon SAN, to withdraw the appeal. Justice Okoro suggested that the appeal lacked merit, and withdrawing it would be in the best interest of the court.
Responding to the advice, Sebastian Hon SAN applied to withdraw the appeal, leading to its dismissal by Justice Okoro. With this development, the Supreme Court has affirmed the victory of Hyacinth Iormem Alia as the Governor of Benue State.
