Court dismisses suit against priest’s election as Benue APC guber candidate

A federal high court in Abuja has struck out a suit seeking the nullification of the candidacy of Hyacinth Alia of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue.

The APC in Benue had opted for direct primary to pick its governorship candidate.

Alia had polled over 7,000 votes to clinch the party’s ticket on May 27.

He contested the party’s ticket with Barnabas Gemade, a former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Mike Aondoakaa, a former attorney-general of the federation (AGF).

Dissatisfied with the outcome, Aondoakaa filed a suit before the court challenging the primary outcome.

Among several issues raised, Aondoakaa argued that Alia “is not qualified to vote, contest and/or be declared as the winner of the first defendant’s (APC) Benue gubernatorial primary election; he has not been a member of the party; and his name is not contained in the list of the party’s membership register submitted to INEC“.

He prayed the court to declare that Alia could not validly contest and be declared as winner of the APC primary, being an ordained priest of the Catholic Church and fully engaged as a minister in the employment and or service of the Catholic Church.

He also prayed the court to declare that he was not given equal opportunity to participate in the Benue APC governorship primary, and asked the court to make an order directing fresh conduct of the primary.

Delivering judgment on Thursday, Ahmed Mohammed, the presiding judge, held that although the suit was a pre-election matter, since it was filed on June 10, it was out of time.

“The grouse of the plaintiff is that the Benue APC primary election was not conducted in compliance with the law,” the judge said.

“The APC primary election took place on May 26 and the plaintiff was enjoined by law to commence action within 14 days.

“From May 26 to June 10 is a period of more than 14 days for filing a pre-election matter

“The suit is, therefore, incompetent and the court lacks the jurisdiction to entertain the suit and the suit is hereby struck out.”