• Says appeal by Uba, PDP lacks merit

 

From Godwin Tsa, Abuja

The Abuja division of the Court of Appeal has affirmed the election of Hyacinth Alia as the Governor of Benue after dismissing the appeal by Titus Uba and his political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for lacking in merit.

Uba and the PDP are seeking the invalidation of the judgment of the Benue State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Makurdi, the state capital, which upheld the victory of Governor Alia of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the March 18, 2023 governorship election.

But in a unanimous judgment on Monday, a three-member panel of the appellate court affirmed the judgment of the tribunal and dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit.

The court in so doing resolved all the three issues raised in the appeal in favour of Governor Alia and his deputy, Sam Ude.

Onyekachi Aja Otisi held that the Uba failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt the allegations of forgery against Ode.

The appellant failed to prove the allegation of forgery beyond reasonable doubt. No other form of EC9 was presented. To prove forgery, two documents must be produced; the original and the forged document. The appellant failed to prove an element of forgery by not making available the documents. ”

Citing section 29(5) of the Electoral Act, she held that the high court and not the tribunal have the jurisdiction to hear the matter.

She added that the appellant lacked the locus standi to challenge the qualification of the deputy governor since he was not part of the party’s primary.

She also held that the rerun primary election was conducted in obedience to a court order, adding that the timeframe proscribed for the submission of name by the Electoral Act will collapse.

“There is a difference between an election conducted based on court order and that of the electoral Act. The timeline by the act will collapse where there is a court order”, she added.

Among others, the appellat Court said that the issues of non qualifications are pre-election matters which can only be challenged at a Federal High Court and not at the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal as done by Uba.

Even at that, Justice Otisi said that a suit to challenge non qualifications can only be instituted within 14 days of occurrence of the subject matter.

The Court also dealt with the allegations by Uba that the name of the Governor, Hyacinth Alia was not not submitted by the All Progressives Congress APC to the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC within 180 days before the election of March 18.

The Court held that the allegations can survive because the primary election that produce Alia was ordered by a High Court and was done within the period ordered by the court.

“The appeal hereby fails. Parties shall bear their cost,” she held.

Alia, a Roman Catholic priest, defeated his closest challenger, Titus Uba of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Announcing the results of the governorship poll, Faruk Kuta, the state collation and returning officer, said Alia scored 473,933 votes to beat Mr Uba who polled 223,913 votes.

Giving the breakdown of the votes, Mr Kuta who is the vice-chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, (FUT) Minna, said the valid votes stood at 756,903, while the rejected votes were: 11,499. The total votes cast were: 768,402.

disatisfied Titus Uba and the PDP, dragged the respondents, INEC, Hyacinth Alia, Dr. Sam Ode, and the APC before the tribunal, challenging their declaration as winners by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The petitioners argued that both Alia and Ode, were at the time of contesting the election, not qualified to contest the March 18 Governorship Election.

They averred that the 4th respondent – the APC – did not follow the provisions of the law in the nomination of the governorship and deputy governorship candidates.

They also alleged that the 3rd respondent had presented a forged certificate to the 1st respondent, INEC, and therefore, should be disqualified.They, therefore, prayed among other things, for the nullification of their election and the declaration of the petitioners as winners of the election, having scored the second highest lawful votes.

They further contended that having not qualified to contest the election, their votes should be declared invalid and certificates earlier issued to them by INEC be withdrawn.

However, delivering judgment, the Chairman of the panel, Justice Ibrahim Karaye, held that the tribunal lacked jurisdiction to entertain pre-election issues raised by the petitioners, Titus Uba and his political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The tribunal stated that only the Federal High Court had the exclusive jurisdiction to entertain issues bordering on pre-election matters.

It further held that the petitioners’ case was also an abuse of court processes because the same case was filed by the petitioners before the Federal High Court Abuja Division and its judgment was not challenged by the petitioners.He said the petitioners lacked locus standi to challenge the nomination of the 2nd and 3rd respondents by the 4th respondent since they were not members of the 4th respondent.

Justice Karaye further said that the petitioners failed to prove their allegations of forgery against the 3rd respondent before the tribunal.

He said the 2nd and 3rd respondents were qualified to contest the March 18 governorship election and therefore, dismissed the case.