The Benue State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Makurdi, the state capital, has upheld the election of Governor Hyacinth Alia of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

The tribunal dismissed the petition of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its governorship candidate in the March 18 poll, Titus Uba, challenging Alia’s victory.

The three-man panel of justices, led by Justice Ibrahim Karaye, held that the tribunal had no jurisdiction to entertain the petition as the matter raised before the court are pre-election issues as captured in Section 285 of the Electoral Act.

The Independent National Electoral Commission had declared Alia the winner of the poll with 473,933 votes ahead of his closest rival Uba, who scored 223,913.

But Uba, who was not satisfied with the election’s outcome, approached the court to nullify Alia’s election.

Ruling in the matter, the tribunal stated that the petitioner ought to have pursued his case of non-qualification and the nomination of Governor Alia by the APC and the allegation of a forged certificate and false information on Form EC9 against his deputy, Sam Ode, before INEC.