Tension mount in Benue as Alia, Uba await guber tribunal judgement
The Justice Ibrahim Karaye-led Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, (GEPT), sitting in Makurdi, the state capital, on Monday, August 14, 2023, reserved judgement on the petition filed by the immediate past speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly and governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), Rt. Hon Titus Uba.
While adjourning the case for judgement, the three-man panel said a date will be communicated to all parties.
But while the parties look forward with bated breath to the hearing, echoes from the streets speak of overwhelming suspense, tension and anxiety as many wonder in whose favour the pendulum would swing.
But recall that governorship election conducted by
Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), on March 18, 2023, conducted in Benue state and on March 21, 2023, returned Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia and Barr. Sam Ode, as Governor and Deputy Governor of Benue State, respectively……………………………CONTINUE READING
But dissatisfied with the return of the duo, Uba and his political party, the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), on April 6, 2023, petitioned the election tribunal in Makurdi, seeking the nullification of the declaration of Hyacinth Alia and Samuel Ode as governor and deputy governor of the state.
In their petition marked EPT/BN/GOV/01/2023, Uba and PDP are contending that on the grounds that Governor Alia and his deputy, Sam Ode, were at the time of the election, not qualified to contest the election, as their sponsorship was invalid having been done after the 180 days’ timeline provided by the Electoral Act, 2022.
According to them, the sponsorship of Governor Alia and go Ode, breached the provisions of Section 177(c), of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended because it was done 44 days to the date of the election, which is less than the mandatory period of 180 days required by law for political parties to submit the names of their candidates.
The petitioners also sought “that since the APC did not submit the name of its governorship candidate, Alia to INEC within the period and in the manner prescribed by law, he could not be said in law to have been sponsored by the party to contest the election and as such, stood disqualified and all votes credited to him in the election declared as wasted votes and be deducted from the total number of votes cast at the election.
Besides, PDP and Uba alleged that the deputy governor, Ode, presented a forged certificate to INEC in his form EC-9.
During the hearing, counsels to INEC, Ishiaku Dikko, (SAN), counsel to Governor Alia, S.I Ameh, (SAN), counsel to Ode, Mamman Mike Osuman, (SAN), and that of APC, Mathew Burkaa, (SAN), all urged the tribunal to dismiss the petition as it is lacking in merit…………………………….CONTINUE READING
But counsel to the petitioners, Efut Okon, (SAN), while adopting the petitioners’ final written address, submitted that the case of the petitioners was not that the deputy governor of the state, Ode, submitted false information to INEC, but that he presented a forged certificate to the electoral commission, and that the issuing authority, the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, had issued a disclaimer to that effect and even sent two of its staff who came and testified at the tribunal, disclaiming the oath form attached to Ode’s Form EC-9.
In the final written address, the petitioners pointed out six visible differences between the Form EC-9 of Hyacinth Alia which is marked exhibit 4 and that of his deputy, despite both forms being allegedly sworn to and commissioned at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The PDP and Uba also drew the attention of the tribunal to the purported endorsement for the payment on the deputy governor’s INEC Form EC-9, which was done on May 25 day, 2022.
The petitioners submitted that as at May 25, 2022, when the assessment for payment of the said Form EC-9 was allegedly done, the primary election of the APC to produce the governorship candidate of the 4th respondent had not even been held, as the first gubernatorial primary election of the APC was conducted on May 27 and 28, 2022 while the re-run of same was done on June 9, 2022 and further rerun, on February 3, 2023.
The petitioners submitted that it could not be true to say that Ode who was later to emerge as a deputy governorship candidate of Alia only on August 12, 2022, started processing his INEC form EC-9 when the primary election to produce the governorship candidate of the APC had not yet taken place.
