Minister hails military’s fight against piracy in Gulf of Guinea Benue APC guber: Appeal court orders fresh primaries in 11 LG

From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

The Court of Appeal sitting in Makurdi, has ordered All Progressives Congress, (APC), to conduct fresh governorship primary elections in 11 Local Government Areas, (LGAs).

The Appellate court, in it’s judgement lead by Justice Mohammed Danjuma, agreed that there was no valid primary election held on the 27th of May by APC for the nomination of its Gubernatorial Candidate which Fr. Alia was declared winner.

However, the court 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 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 federal High Court which dismissed his suit against Fr Alia for Being Statute Barred.

The Appeal of 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 and every is still under control. I am still in the ballot.

“I am going to so further consultation with 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 not disturb anyone and in a matter of hours, In will speak on the way forward.

He thanks 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 enmasse 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 to for APC.

“The first option is that we will comply with the court directive and conduct a rerun primaries in the 11 LGs within the next 14 days and the second is to approach the supreme court within 14days.

“We, however, would apply for the hard copy of the judgement, study it critically and advise the party accordingly. are in favour of the party,” he said.