Ortom of APC ends PDP's 16-year rule in Benue

A former Minister of State for Trade and Industries and candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Samuel Ortom, has won the Benue governorship election held on Saturday.

Announcing the results on Monday in Makurdi, the Returning Officer for the state, Istifinus Dafwang, said Mr. Ortom polled 422,932 votes to beat seven other contestants.

The results showed that Mr. Ortoms’s closest rival in the contest, Terhemen Tarzoor of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, scored 313,878 votes.

The results, however, showed that the PDP would retain its dominance in the state legislature, having won 15 seats as against 14 by the APC and one by the Labour Party.

Reacting to the results, Iyorwuese Hagher, who served as the Director General of Mr. Tarzoor Campaign Organization, congratulated the winner of the election.

He appealed to the people to support the newly-elected governor to succeed in the task of rebuilding the state.

Mr. Hagher expressed some misgivings in the manner the polls were held. He, however, said the party had accepted the result in the “spirit of greater Benue state’’.

“We prefer to move forward and forget the indiscretions of the INEC returning officer,” he added.

He promised that the PDP in the state would be strengthened, as it had “grown lean from divisive politics”.