Uba heads to Appeal court over Benue Guber Tribunal judgement

Titus Uba, who ran for governor of Benue State as a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and his party have filed an appeal against the Governorship victory Petitions Tribunal’s decision to uphold Governor Hyacinth Alia’s victory.

The petition by the PDP and Uba challenging INEC’s return of Governor Hyacinth Alia as winner of the 2023 Gubernatorial election in the state was rejected by the Tribunal on September 24, 2023, presided over by Justice Ibrahim Mohammed Karaye.

The presiding judge, Justice Karaye, ruled that the Federal High Court, not the Tribunal, should have heard the petitioners’ claims because they involved events that occurred before the election.

However, the PDP has appealed the judgement to the Court of Appeal, arguing that the Tribunal made a legal mistake by deciding to hear both petitions in the first place.

Mr. Bemgba Iortyom, the party’s publicity secretary, made this clear in a statement.

Mr. Iortyom remarked, “Our great party and her candidate blame the decision of the Tribunal which found, to the effect, that the ground of the petition was that of pre-election, despite plain and unequivocal statutory provisions and pronouncements by higher courts of record on the topic to the contrary.

As the petition was proven before the Tribunal, the party is confident that Governor Alia’s running mate, Samuel Ode, was not a candidate for election because his name was not submitted to INEC alongside that of Alia for the election, as is expressly required by law.

In keeping with the people’s expectation that the Judiciary will always be their last hope, the PDP and Engr. Uba have reaffirmed their faith in the Judiciary and are optimistic that the Appellate court will set aside the judgement of the Tribunal and bring substantive justice to their petition.

The party believes that by continuing to contest the results of the 2023 governorship election in Benue State, it is helping to strengthen democracy and clean up the selection of state leaders, both of which are necessary if the party is to see its development legacy in the state carried on and built upon.

We argue that “no one, whatever his assumptions of populism and self-righteousness, may lay his hands on the sacred mandate of the people” outside of the due process mandated and regulated by the rule of law.