Tribunal upholds Gov Alia’s victory 

The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Makurdi, Benue State, has dismissed the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Titus Uba, against the election of Governor Hyacinth Alia and his running mate, Sam Ode, of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for being incompetent.

Chairman of the panel, Justice Ibrahim Mohammed Karaye, who delivered the lead judgment, said that the issues raised by the petitioners were pre-election issues that ought to have been entertained by the Federal High Court and not the tribunal.

Justice Karaye therefore held that the tribunal had no jurisdiction to hear and determine the petition.

The PDP candidate, who came second in the  March 18, 2023, governorship election, had approached the tribunal to disqualify Alia and Ode on the ground that as at the time of the election, the duo were not qualified to contest and that the votes scored by the two were wasted votes.

It was also the contention of Uba that Ode forged Form EC9 (Affidavit in support of personal particulars). He also questioned the locus standi of the sponsorship of Alia and Ode by their political party, the APC.

He, therefore, prayed the court, through his counsel, Okon Efut (SAN), to order the withdrawal of the Certificate of Return issued to the duo and return Uba and PDP as winners.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the APC were joined as respondents with Alia and Ode.

Their lead counsels, Ishaq Dikko (SAN), Chief Mamman Mike Osuman (SAN), Sunday Ameh (SAN) and Matthew Burka (SAN) raised objection as to the competency of the petition and questioned the jurisdiction of the tribunal to entertain same.

In his judgment, Justice Karaye held that the tribunal is bound to hold that all preliminary objections challenging the jurisdiction of the tribunal by INEC, Alia and Ode succeeded.

He ruled that issues of nomination, sponsorship and disqualification are domestic issues of political parties.

The judge also held that the tribunal lacked jurisdiction to entertain the petition and that the second and third respondents, Alia and Ode, were qualified to contest the March 18, 2023, governorship election and therefore dismissed the petition.