Suspended Catholic Priest Wins APC Guber Primary in Benue State

George Okoh in Makurdi

A suspended Catholic Priest, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Iornem Alia, has emerged the winner of the All Progressives Congress’ (APC) gubernatorial primary elections in Benue State.

Alia polled a total of 526,807 votes to beat other contestants to fly the flag of the party in the state for the governorship position in the 2023 general elections.

He defeated Mr. Mathias Byuan, who came a distant second after scoring a total of 113816 votes while Mr. Sam Ode and Mr. Stephen Lawani, polled 79369 and 46882 respectively.

A Former Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Mike Kaase Aondoakaa, polled a total of 24596 votes while former Chief of Staff to Governor Samuel Ortom, Mr. Terwase Orbunde and Terlumun Ikya scored 12446 and 3680 votes respectively.

Other contestants were Mr. Herman Hembe with 2473 votes; Mr. Barnabas Gemade with 2465 votes; Mr. Godwin Tyoapine with 1328 votes; Terhemba Shija with 1048 and Yisa with 742 votes.