INEC Declares Catholic Priest, Fr Hyacinth Alia Benue Gov-Elect
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the All Progressive Congress (APC) Candidate in Benue State, Rev Fr Hyacinth Alia, as the winner of the March 18 poll and the Governor-Elect.
The Catholic priest won 473,933 votes ahead of his closest rival and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Titus Uba, who scored 223,913.
The Returning Office, Prof Faruq Kuta and Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Minna declared Alia the winner, relying on the provisions of section 24(1) of the Electoral Act 2022 and the Electoral Guideline of INEC to the declare the result of the election” since the election in Kwande LGA is still pending.
Alia, who is a member of the ruling APC, is expected to take over from Governor Samuel Ortom of the PDP.
A breakdown of the result declared by the Electoral body showed that the APC won in 17 Local Government Areas, LGAs of the 23 LGAs of the state, PDP took four LGAs while LP took one LGA.
The declared result also indicates that the total valid votes in the election stood at 756,903, the total votes cast was 768,404 while the total Rejected votes in the election stood at 11,499.
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