JUST IN: Court Of Appeal Nullifies Apc Guber Primaries, Orders Fresh Primaries

The the All Progressives Congress, APC, has been ordered by a Court of Appeal sitting in Makurdi to conduct a fresh primary election in 11 out of the 23 local government areas of Benue State for the nomination of its gubernatorial candidate.

The affected local governments are, Gboko, Gwer- East, Gwer-West, Guma, Katsina-Ala, Logo, Makurdi, Otukpo, Ukum, Tarka and Vandeikya.

Additionally, the court mandated that APC holds its primary within 14 days and that INEC should declare a winner after aggregating the results of the 12 local government areas’ elections.

The development is coming barely 33 days before the general elections of 2023.

The decision was reached in response to an appeal brought by Professor Terhemba Shija, one of the APC candidates, who claimed that the party’s primary election for the nomination of its gubernatorial candidate on May 27, 2022, was invalid and Fr Alia should not have been declared the winner.

The court, after evaluating evidence submitted by Professor Shija, agreed with his submissions.

However, the Court agreed with APC on the rerun of 9th June 2022, which took part in 12 local governments of the states, saying it was valid and still stands.

Meanwhile, the court dismissed Senator Barnabas Gemade’s appeal and upheld the judgement of the Federal High Court, which dismissed his suit against Fr Alia for being statute-barred.