Guber election: Rev Fr Hyacinth Alia wins in Benue state

The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hyacinth Alia, has been declared the winner of the Benue state governorship election.

Alia, who is a reverend father, garnered 473,933 votes to defeat Titus Uba, the candidate of the Peoples Democracy Party (PDP), who polled 223,913 votes, to be declared the winner on Monday.

Herman Hembe of the Labour Party (LP) scored 41,881 votes.

Faruk Kuta, vice chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, and the returning officer of the Benue state gubernatorial election, announced the results on Monday at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) collation centre in Makurdi, the state’s capital.

Out of the 23 LGAs in Benue, Alia secured 17, while Uba clinched four and Hembe got one.

“This formal declaration is hinged on the fact that we are relying on section 24(1) of the electoral Act (2022) and INEC guidelines for the election,” Kuta said.

TheCable had reported how elections were rescheduled in Kwande LGA over following a mix-up of ballot papers on Saturday.

However, Kuta, said Alia was declared the winner in line with the electoral act and the INEC guidelines.

The law provides for a winner to be declared if the margin of lead of the candidate surpasses the number of registered voters or those who have collected their permanent voter’s cards (PVCs) in an LGA.