National/State Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Makurdi has voided the election of Sen. Emmanuel Udende of the All Progressives Congress, APC, for the Benue North-East Senate seat.
Delivering judgement on Friday in Makurdi, the tribunal Chairman, Justice Ory’zik Ikeorha, declared former Governor Gabriel Suswam of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as the winner of Feb. 25 election.
Mrs Ikeorha held that the petitioners fulfilled the requirements of the law by proving the ingredients of their petition against Mr Udende and ordered INEC to issue a Certificate of Return to Suswam.
She said that the evidence presented by the petitioners had clearly proven cases of over voting, alterations and mutilation of results in 5 Local Government Areas, LGAs, in the senatorial district during the election.
She listed the LGAs to include: Ushongo, Kwande, Katsina-Ala, Ukum and Vandekiya, adding that the petitioners were able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that there were clear evidences of over voting, alteration of results and mutilation of results in the LGAs.
Mrs Ikeorha said that in the five LGAs, Udende polled 51, 895 votes, while Mr Suswam scored 21,229 votes.
The tribunal subtracted 51, 895 votes from the respondent’s total result and 21, 229 votes from the petitioner’s total result, as earlier declared by INEC.
Mrs Ikeorha said after the subtraction, Mr Suswam scored 90, 590 votes, while Mr Udende scored 82, 699 votes and therefore declared Mr Suswam as the winner of the Feb. 25 election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had declared Mr Udende winner of the election with 135, 573 votes, while Mr Suswam polled 112,231 votes.
Mr Suswam and PDP’s petitions were predicated on the ground that Mr Udende did not score majority of the lawful votes cast during the election.
The petitioners had called 19 witnesses to buttress their case and challenged the results that were declared in 474 polling units in five LGAs out of the 1844 poling units in the senatorial district.
NAN
