Hyacinth Alia, a priest who was fired from the Catholic Diocese of Gboko in Benue State, won the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary election in Benue state.
The priest was temporarily taken off the job because the Catholic church's rules against getting involved in politics were against the church's canon laws.
Fr. Alia was named the winner of the primary election because he got more votes than his competitors.
Alias beat Barnabas Gemade, a former national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Mike Aondoakaa, a former Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF).
In the direct primary election held across the state on Friday, the priest got more than 7,000 votes, which was enough to win the party's nomination.