Appeal Court affirms Alia as Benue governor, dismisses Uba’s suit

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has affirmed the election of Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia as Benue State Governor while dismissing the appeal filed by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial candidate, Titus Uba.

In a unanimous decision, a three-man panel of justices on Monday resolved all three issues formulated for determination against Uba and PDP.

Uba had approached the Court of Appeal praying it to set aside the judgment of the Benue State Gubernatorial Election Petition Tribunal which upheld Alia’s election.

Uba among other things alleged that Alia’s deputy, Samuel Ode, presented a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission contrary to Section 182(1)(j) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).

The appellant also claimed that Alia’s name was submitted less than 180 days before the election date, and Ode was also not submitted to INEC after the party conducted a further re-run primary election.

Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Onyekachi Aja Otisi held that the appellant (Uba) failed to prove the allegations of forgery against Ode beyond reasonable doubt as required by law.

“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,” Justice Otisi declared.

The judge held that by virtue of section 29(5) of the Electoral Act, the high court and not the tribunal have the jurisdiction to hear the matter as the issue of non-qualification is a pre-election matter.

Justice Otisi further held 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.

On Uba’s allegation that Alia’s name was not submitted by the APC to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) within 180 days before the election of March 18, the court held that the primary election that produced Alia was ordered by a high Court and was done within the period ordered by the court.

“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,” Justice Otisi said.