The Benue North-East Senatorial Election Petitions Tribunal has declared Senator Gabriel Suswam of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the senator-elect, thereby removing Senator Emmanuel Udende of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from office.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had initially declared Udende as the victor in the Benue North-East senatorial election, which took place on February 25.
The matter was taken to court with the Chairman of a three-man Tribunal, Justice Ory-Zik Ikeorha, and a member of the panel holding that the petitioner, Suswam, provided evidence of over-voting, result mutilation, result cancellations, and election irregularities in five of the seven local government areas within the senatorial district.
The Tribunal’s chairman subtracted 51,895 votes from Udende’s total and 21,229 votes from Suswam’s before recalculating their final vote counts. Following the adjustment, the PDP candidate, Suswam, had 90,570 votes, securing victory over the incumbent Udende, who was left with 82,699 votes.
