Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue state is validly elected to be in office for the next four years as the Supreme Court on Monday affirmed his election. The court, however reserved its decision on Ebonyi state governorship petition.

A five-member panel of the Supreme Court led by Justice John Okoro said issues raised about the disputed Benue State governorship in the appeal did not qualify as post-election matters.

Rev. Fr. Alia, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), defeated Hon. Titus Uba, his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rival at the 18th March, 2023 poll.

Dissatisfied by the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in declaring Rev. Fr. Alia as winner of the election, Hon. Uba filed a petition at the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.

In September, the election petition tribunal, the first court of instance to sit over the disputes arising from the election, held that it lacked jurisdiction to entertain the issues relating mostly to pre-election issues raised by Mr Uba in his petition.

Dissatisfied with the decision, the PDP candidate appealed, seeking to overturn Rev. Fr. Alia’s victory.

A three-member panel of the court led by Justice Onyekachi Otisi had upheld Rev. Fr. Alia’s election after dismissing the appeal filed by Mr Uba and his party.

In its unanimous verdict, the Court of Appeal resolved all the issues in favour of the governor, including the alleged non-qualification of Rev. Fr. Alia and his deputy, Hon. Ode to contest the March 2023 election.

Justice Otisi said the PDP governorship candidate failed to prove the allegation of forgery of INEC’s documents levelled against Mr Ode.

In resolving the dispute, the Supreme Court prevailed on the counsel to the PDP and Hon. Uba, Mr. Sebastine Hon, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) to withdraw the appeal, paving the way for its dismissal on Monday.

Governor Alia, his deputy, Mr. Sam Ode, and a retinue of state officials were at the Supreme Court to witness Monday’s proceedings.

Also on Monday, the Supreme Court heard an appeal filed by the PDP and its candidate in Ebonyi State, Mr. Chukwuma Ifeanyi, against Governor Francis Nwifuru’s election.

The court reserved judgement on the appeal until a date to be communicated to the parties.

A three-member panel of the Court of Appeal in Lagos led by Justice Jummai Sankey had upheld the election of Mr Nwifuru as the duly elected governor of Ebonyi State.

In its unanimous decision, the appellate court dismissed the appeal filed by Mr Odii of the PDP and resolved all the five issues raised against the appellant and dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit.

Justice Sankey said the PDP and its candidate lacked the right to meddle in the internal affairs of the APC as it relates to the nomination of candidates.