By Orkula Shaagee, Abuja

The premises of the Court of Appeal, Abuja, was agog yesterday with jubilations and shouts of joy from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) supporters and by extension, Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, when the Court upheld his election as the Benue state Governor at the 2019 general elections.

In a unanimous judgement by the five-member panelists at the appellate court, led by Justice A.

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.

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

But Governor 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 Jime’s petition for lack of merit.

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

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in March declared Ortom winner of the supplementary governorship election in the state.

Ortom, who defected to the PDP after falling out with his erstwhile political God-Father Senator George Akume of the APC, defeated his closest rival, Emmanuel Jime of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and 31 other contestants.

Declaring the result, the state returning officer, Sebastain Maimako, said Mr. Ortom polled a total of 434,473 votes to beat Jime, who got 345,155 votes.

Before the supplementary election, Ortom had scored 410,576 votes and had a lead of 81,554 votes over Jime who had scored 329,022 votes.

The supplementary election was held in 204 polling units in 22 local governments, which had a total of 121,299 registered voters.

Also in October, the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Makurdi affirmed the re-election of Gov. Samuel Ortom of Benue and dismissed the petition of Mr. Emmanuel Jime for lacking in merit.

Jime of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had challenged the return of Ortom of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by the National Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) on the grounds of substantial noncompliance with the provisions of Electoral Act, 2010 as amended.

Also joined in the petition were the PDP and INEC.

The petitioner alleged in his petition that Ortom was not duly elected by majority of lawful votes cast.

The APC governorship candidate also challenged the results declared in Buruku, Gboko, Guma, Gwer East, Gwer West, Konshisha, Kwande, Logo, Ukum, Ushongo and Vandeikya.

He therefore asked the tribunal to either declare him winner of the March 2019 governorship election in Benue or nullify Ortom’s election and order the conduct of a fresh election in the state.

During the hearing, the petitioner called 59 witnesses who testified that they witnessed irregularities, over voting and other electoral malpractices perpetrated by the PDP and INEC during the election.

Jime, while testifying as PW17, urged the tribunal to declare him winner of the election on grounds that he polled 2,224 votes more than Ortom.

The petitioner also tendered over 1100 electoral documents including forms EC8A, EC8B, EC8C, EC8D, EC8E, voters’ registers and card reader reports.

He also tendered 2019 manual and guidelines for electoral officials in 384 Polling Units across 11 local government areas in contention.

However, Ortom, INEC and PDP asked the tribunal to strike out the petition in its entirety for lacking in merit.

INEC in its final written address, told the tribunal that the March 2019 election was conducted in full compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2010 as amended.

INEC and PDP called no witnesses while Ortom who was the second respondent in the suit called one witness.

Ortom told the tribunal through his counsel, Barrister Sebastine Hon (SAN) that the burden of proof rested on the petitioner.

Delivering a nine hours judgment, the Chairman of the Tribunal, Justice Henry Olusiyi faulted the testimonies of the petitioner’s witnesses.

According to him, none of them could substantiate their claims of over voting and other irregularities alleged.

Olusiyi said that the petitioner failed to link the documents tendered in evidence to the petition, saying that they dumped the documents on the tribunal.

He also said that until the National Assembly amends the constitution, the voter register remain the only document used to ascertain the number of registered voters and not the smart card readers.

Reacting to yesterday’s victory, Ortom in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Terver Akase, commended the judgement and described it as a victory for the people of the state.

According to him, the appellate court’s verdict has not only validated the earlier judgment of the Governorship Election Tribunal but also confirmed the choice of Benue voters in the 2019 polls.

He thanked God for giving him the opportunity to lead the state for another term and appreciated the leadership and members of the PDP in the state, as well as the people of the state.

Governor Ortom also commended his legal team for their outstanding performance at the Tribunal and the Court of Appeal and stressed that the task of building the state was the responsibility of all the people.

He, however, called on the APC candidate and other contestants in the last election to join hands with him to develop Benue State.

Ortom also expressed willingness to collaborate with sons and daughters of the state irrespective of political differences, ethnicity, religion and place of origin, for a greater Benue.

Ortom became the governor of Benue State in 2015, when he defected from the PDP to join the APC weeks before the general election, and became the party’s (APC) candidate after failing to secure the PDP ticket at the primaries.

He later defeated Terhemen Tarzoor of the PDP after polling 422,932 votes as against PDP’s 313,878 votes in the general election to emerge the winner.

The then PDP candidate also challenged the election of Mr. Ortom up to the Supreme Court, but lost, paving way for Ortom to rule the state for four years.

The apex court dismissed the appeal filed by Tarzoor on the ground that he lacked the locus standi to institute the suit.