Reverend Father Hyacinth Alia, who was recently suspended by the Bishop of Gkoko Catholic Diocese for engaging in partisan politics, has emerged as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue.
Rev. Father Alia picked the ticket of the party after defeating 12 other aspirants at the end of the direct primary election of the party held across the state on Friday, May 27.
Chairman of the Benue State APC primary election committee, Dr. Peter Ojie made the declaration at the party secretariat in Makurdi, the state capital on Saturday.
From the results collated, the priest polled a total of 526,807 votes to defeat his closest rival, Dr. Mathias Byuan who polled 113,816 votes.
Meanwhile, some of the aspirants have registered their protests over the conduct of the exercise and the outcome of the process.
In a letter of protest to the national leadership of the APC, Prof Terhemba Shija, another aspirant who got 10,487 votes, rejected the outcome of the election describing the entire process as a sham.
Part of the letter read, “The direct primaries of the APC held on Friday 27, 2022, was to say the least a sham and an aberration of democracy. We reject and disassociate ourselves from the results of the exercise.”
