Senator Emmanuel Udende of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been sacked by the Benue North-East Senatorial Election Petitions Tribunal, and Senator Gabriel Suswam of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been returned as the senator-elect.
Udende was proclaimed the winner of the Benue North-East senatorial election held on February 25 by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
However, the matter was taken to court, with the Chairman of a three-man Tribunal, Justice Ory-Zik Ikeorha, and a member of the panel ruling that the petitioner, Suswam, proved the allegation of over-voting, mutilation, and cancellation of results, as well as election malpractices, in five of the senatorial district’s seven local government areas.
Before recalculating their final votes, the Tribunal chairman deducted 51,895 votes from Udende’s total and 21,229 votes from Suswam’s. Following that, the PDP candidate received 90,570 votes, defeating the incumbent Udende, who received 82, 699 votes.
However, one of the Tribunal members disagreed with the ruling, stating that the petitioner failed to demonstrate how over-voting occurred to warrant the cancellation, a point Udende’s counsel stated he would appeal.
