Rev Fr Hyacinth Alia who is a suspended Roman Catholic priest and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Benue State, has been declared winner of the Saturday governorship election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), through Returning Officer, Prof Faruq Kuta, the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, made the announcement on Monday in Makurdi, the state capital.
Alia defeated the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Titus Uba and Herman Lorwase Hembe of the Labour Party in a tough battle.
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The Catholic priest polled 473, 933 votes to defeat Titus Uba, his closest opponent who scored 223,913 votes.
Meanwhile, European Union (EU) has said the governorship and state House of Assembly elections were fraught with massive voter apathy, multiple incidents of thuggery, intimidation, vote-buying, interruption of polling in various locations with 21 people killed across the country.
Chief Observer of European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) to Nigeria, Barry Andrews, stated this, yesterday, in Abuja, while giving the EU’s second preliminary statement on the election.
He also lambasted the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for its poor conduct of the polls.
He said Nigerians have a great appetite for democracy and were keen to engage in various civic activities, but lamented that in large parts of the country, their expectations were not met during the presidential and National Assembly polls.
Andrews said public confidence and trust in INEC were severely damaged on February 25 due to lack of transparency and operational failures in the conduct of the polls.
The EU EOM Chief Observer said most polling units opened with materials and personnel deployed on time, although a dismal level of voter participation meant less pressure on INEC operations throughout the day.