The election of Hyacinth Alia as governor of Benue state has been confirmed by the Court of Appeal in Abuja.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Alia the winner of the March 18 governorship election.
473,933 people voted for the Catholic priest.
However, Titus Uba, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in Benue, filed a petition to overturn Alia’s victory.
Alia’s election was confirmed by the governorship tribunal in September.
The chairman of the three-member tribunal panel, Ibrahim Karaye, stated that they lacked jurisdiction to hear the petition because it was a pre-election matter.
Karaye claimed that Uba should have taken the forgery charge against Sam Ode, the deputy governor of Benue, to the Supreme Court.
Uba and the PDP then filed an appeal against the tribunal’s decision.
On Monday, the court‘s three-member panel led by Onyekachi Aja Otisi ruled on the appeal.
They found that Uba failed to prove allegations of forgery against Ode beyond a reasonable doubt.
