Appeal Court upholds Ortom’s election as Benue governor

The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, on Thursday upheld the re-election of the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, at the 2019 general election.

In a unanimous judgement by a five-member panel at the appellate court, led by A. O. Belgore, the court said the All Progressives Congress and its candidate, Emmanuel Jime, should pay N150,000 for bringing the application.

Mr Jime and his party, the APC, had approached the appellate court to challenge the October 7 decision of the Benue State election tribunal which upheld the election of Mr Ortom, after a petition by the APC that the elections were marred by irregularities and should be nullified.

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

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

But Mr 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.

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

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