TheCable

Hyacinth Alia, a suspended priest in the Catholic diocese of Gboko, has won the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary rerun in Benue state.

Alia was initially declared the winner of the election in May 2022.

But in January, the court of appeal in Benue ordered a rerun in 11 out of the 28 LGAs in the state.

The matter got to the appellate court after Terhemba Sjija, a governorship aspirant, appealed the decision of the trial court that upheld the election of the priest.

Announcing the results on Thursday in Makurdi, Benue capital, Basheer Lado, chairman of the primary election committee, said Alia won the poll after securing 410,682 votes.

Lado said Matthias Byuan came second after polling 14,592 votes while Barnabas Gemade, a former senator, scored 5,125 votes to come third.

Terhemba Shija scored 2,217 votes, and Michael Aondoakaa, a former attorney-general of the federation (AGF) scored 3,815 to come fourth and fifth respectively.

“I hereby declare Rev Fr Hyacinth Alia who scored a total number of 410,682 votes, and having scored the highest number of votes, as the winner of the election,” the chairman said.