The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the appeal by the Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate in the Benue governorship election, Titus Uba.
The governorship election petition tribunal and the court of appeal in Abuja had affirmed the election of Hyacinth Alia as governor of Benue state.
Not pleased with the judgments, Uba approached the apex court for redress.
At the proceedings, the counsel for the applicant, Sebastian Hon, SAN, urged the court to allow the appeal, adding that the Deputy Governor of the state, Samuel Ode, was not sponsored by the All Progressives Congress.
He said, “I urge this court to allow the appeal. Allow this appeal. This appeal has to do with non-sponsorship. The deputy governor’s name was not submitted to INEC. Their witnesses admitted to it. Section 177(c) has not been complied with. His sponsorship not by the law is no sponsorship.”
A justice on the panel, Emmanuel Agim, questioned why the matter was brought before the court.
He noted that the case was not a post-election matter.
“I don’t why this appeal is here. There is no post-election matter here,” Agim said.
Also, John Okoro who led the five-member panel said the case should not have been brought before the court.
He said, “This is not the kind of case that should come here.”
Hon then proceeded to withdraw the appeal.
All the respondents in the matter did not object and demanded no cost.
Okoro, however, dismissed the appeal.
“This appeal having been withdrawn is hereby dismissed,” Okoro said.
Alia reportedly secured victory in the election with 473,933 votes, defeating his closest rival Uba, who had 223,913 votes.
Alia, who is a Catholic priest, was also given a certificate of return by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
The INEC Returning Officer, Prof. Faruk Kuta, said the APC candidate polled 473,933 votes to defeat his closest rival, Titus Uba of the Peoples Democratic Party who scored 223,914 votes.
Punch