Rev. Fr. Dr. Hyacinth Alia has won the gubernatorial primary rerun election conducted of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue State, reports thegazellenews.com.
The rerun primary election came as a result of the nullification of the earlier gubernatorial primary election by a Court of Appeal in Makurdi which was also won by the Catholic Reverend Father.
In the new Primary Election conducted by the APC Electoral Committee for the state led by Senator Bashir Lado, Rev Father Alia polled a total of 219,002 votes to defeat 12 other governorship aspirants who contested the rerun primary election.
Heavyweight politicians who lost at the primary election included former National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) but now an APC member, Senator Barnabas Gemade; former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister for Justice, Micheal Andoakaa, SAN; and former Minister Sam Ode.
The rerun Primary Election took place on Thursday, 2 February, 2023.
Recalled that the court of appeal sitting in Makurdi while delivering judgement in a case filed by one of the gubernatorial aspirants, Prof. Terhemba Shija directed the party to conduct a primary re-run election in 11 local government areas of the state.
While announcing the result at the APC Secretariat Makurdi, which also served as the collation centre for the rerun, Sen. Lado, Chairman of Benue State Rerun Election Committee stated that the primary election rerun which was won by Rev. Fr. Dr. Hyacinth Alia was not only free, fair and credible but represented the wishes of APC members in Benue State.
Chairman of the party in Benue State, Comrade Augustine Agada while commending APC members in the state for a peaceful primary election, thanked them for their show of maturity during the rerun and term the results of the election as no victor no vanquish, explaining that the winner in the election is not only Fr. Alia but the entire Benue APC family.
In a good will message, Amb. Prof. Stephen Ugba who spoke on behalf of party Stakeholders, commended Benue APC for a successful exercise and called on all those who participated in the primary election to see themselves as winners.
The party immediately after the declaration of results went into a Special Congress to ratify the primary elections. The Congress unanimously ratified and adopted Rev. Fr. Dr Hyacinth Alia as the candidate of APC Benue state for the position of governor.
The Special Congress was attended by members of the State Executive Committee of the party, Critical Stakeholders, members of the APC in Benue state and members of the press.
