BREAKING: Ortom Wins At Supreme Court

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) can now heave a sigh of relief following Tuesday’s Supreme Court judgement which affirmed him duly elected governor of the state.

In a unanimous judgment delivered by Sylvester Ngwuta, the apex court agreed with the election petition tribunal and the court of appeal.

Ortom’s major challenger in the March 9 2019 polls, Emmanuel Jime of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had approached the appellate court to challenge the October 7 decision of the Benue State election tribunal which upheld the election of Ortom, after a petition by the APC that the elections were marred by irregularities and should be nullified.

After the tribunal ruling, Jime vowed to contest the decision and argued that the Benue State tribunal aired in law and treated his petition unfairly.

Jime’s lawyer, Yusuf Ali, had argued that the election did not comply with the provisions of Nigeria’s electoral laws.

But Ortom’s lawyers led by Sabastian Hon argued that the petitioners failed to provide credible evidence to back their claims. They also said the arguments by APC regarding the card readers at the said elections had since been settled in various election decisions.

Subsequently, The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, in November upheld the re-election of the Ortom, at the 2019 general election.

In its decision, the Court of Appeal upheld the judgment of the tribunal and dismissed Jime’s petition for lack of merit.

Ortom had defected from the APC to the PDP in the build up to the 2019 elections.