From Scholastica Onyeka, Makurdi
The court of Appeal sitting in Makurdi, the Benue State capital has ordered the All Progressives Congress (APC) to conduct fresh primary elections in 11 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Benue State for the nomination of its gubernatorial candidate ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Delivering the judgement, the lead judge, Justice Mohammed Danjuma, flanked by Justice Abraham Biobelle and Justice Ibrahim Wakali Jauro, after evaluating evidence submitted by Professor Terhemba Shija, agreed with Prof. Shija in his assertion that no valid primary election held on the 27th of May by APC for the nomination of its Gubernatorial Candidate which Fr Alia was declared a winner.
The court, however, agreed with APC on the rerun of 9th June 2022 which took part in 12 LGA saying it was very valid and still stands.
“Yes, I have seen that APC did not conduct a valid primary election on the 27th of May 2022 reasons why the appeal panel ordered a fresh election that was conducted on the 9th of June 2022 in some Local Governments.
“In the interest of justice, I can not allow those voters in the remaining 11 LGs to be disenfranchised, therefore, APC should go back and conduct elections in 11 LGs within 14 days and INEC should recognize the winner after adding both election results as the Gubernatorial candidate of the Party,” he said.
The local governments where the fresh primary election was ordered include, Gboko, Gwer- East, Gwer-west Guma, Katsina, Logo Makurdi, Otukpo, Ukum, Tarka and Vandeikya.
The court had earlier dismissed Senator Barnabas Gemade Appeal and upheld the judgement of the Federal High Court which dismissed his suit against Fr Alia for being statute barred.
The Appeal of the PDP against APC, House of Assembly Candidates and House of Representatives Candidates was also dismissed. The court held that PDP has no locus standi whatsoever to meddle in APC or another political party’s affairs.
Responding to the judgement, the governorship candidate of the APC, Rev Fr Hyacinth Alia, who expressed his respect for the judgement, urged all APC members and supporters to remain calm as he is still on the ballot.
Alia said “All the other prayers against him were all thrown out except one in which the Court directed that the APC should go back to the 11 LGAs to conduct a rerun of the elections.
“We respect the judgement so far and I am appealing to my party faithful and fans to simply remain very calm… I am still on the ballot.
“I am going to do further consultation with the party’s leadership and speak to you further. So stay very calm. Nothing has gone that wrong at all. Let’s remain law-abiding. Do not disturb anyone and in a matter of hours, I will speak on the way forward.
He thanked all party members for standing by him and urged them to continue to keep faith to the end.
The APC chairman in the state, Austin Agada said ” we as a political party, the APC in Benue State, believe that the voice of the people is the voice of God.
“We created an enabling environment where the people exercised their franchise by voting en masse for the person and candidate of Rev Fr Hyacinth Alia and my appeal to APC supporters is that nothing has happened. So they should remain calm, be law abiding and by God’s special grace, Fr Alia would be on the ballot for them to happily vote him governor of Benue state in the elections,” Agada said.
Also speaking, the Legal Adviser to the APC, Fidelis Mnyim, said there is no cause for alarm. According to him, the judgement has opened two options for APC.
“The first option is that we will comply with the court directive and conduct rerun primaries in the 11 LGs within the next 14 days and the second is to approach the supreme court within 14 days.
“We, however, would apply for the hard copy of the judgement, study it critically and advise the party accordingly. But in my opinion, either of the two options is in favour of the party,” he said.