Suspended priest in the Catholic Diocese of Gboko, Hyacinth Alia, has won the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue State.
The Catholic Church in Benue recently suspended
Alia after he declared his interest in the APC governorship primary in the state and purchased the nomination forms. Alia’s suspension, the church said, was in line with the canon laws of the Catholic church.
Alia, however, won the APC governorship primary after polling a high number of votes at the election on Friday.
Benue APC had opted for direct primary to pick its governorship candidate, giving party members in the state the opportunity to vote for their preferred choice.
The Catholic priest contested the APC governorship ticket with a former National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Barnabas Gemade and a former attorney-general of the federation (AGF), Mike Aondoakaa.
Alia polled over 7,000 votes to emerge the APC flagbearear.
But Gemade and Aondoakaa failed to record any vote in some of the Local Government Areas.
Rev Father Alia said he joined the Benue governorship race to rescue the people of the state from the “shackles of maladministration.
“From the day I took the decision to answer the overwhelming calls of my people to contest the governorship of Benue with the aim to rescue our people from the shackles of maladministration, I was fully aware of the sacrifice I was going to make.”