Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Saturday’s Benue State governorship election, Fr. Hyacinth Alia, has been declared winner of the election on Monday.
The APC candidate gained 473,933 votes to defeat his closest challenger and candidate of the Peoples Democracy Party (PDP), Titus Uba, who scored 223,913 votes.
Candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Herman Hembe, recorded 41,881 votes.
This decision followed an inadvertent mix-up of some of the sensitive materials for the two State Assembly constituencies in the area i.e. Kwande East and Kwande West.
The national commissioner and chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee of INEC, Barr. Festus Okoye, said the Commission had earlier agreed that a new date will be announced for the elections.
The statement reads in part: “The public may recall that the Governorship and State Assembly elections in Kwande Local Government Area of Benue State scheduled for Saturday 18th March 2023 had to be suspended. This decision followed an inadvertent mix-up of some of the sensitive materials for the two State Assembly constituencies in the area.
“After further consultation with stakeholders, our Resident Electoral Commissioner in Benue State, Prof. Sam Egwu, has advised that the State office is ready to proceed with the rescheduled elections.”
“Similarly, we call on parties and candidates to conduct themselves peacefully,” he added.