The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has reversed the election victory of former Governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam.
In a uninamous decision on Wednesday, a three-member panel of Justices, led by Justice Abimbola Osarugue Obaseki faulted the judgement of the Benue State Election Petition Tribunal which on 8/9/2023 nullified the election of Emmanuel Udende of the All Progressives Congress APC and returned Suswam as the winner of the Benue North East Senatorial Election on February 25,2023.
The appellant court held that the tribunal wrongly evaluated the evidence that was presented before it by the parties in the matter and thereby arrived at an erroneous conclusion that upheld the petition Suswam filed to challenge Udende’s election victory.
Consequently, the court affirmed Udende as winner of the February 25 Senatorial Election
“The return of the Appellant as the winner of the Benue North East senatorial election that was held on February 25 is hereby affirmed.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Udende as winner of the senatorial election after he polled a total of 135,573 votes to defeat Senator Suswam who got 112,231 votes.
But not satisfied with the outcome of the election, Suswam approached the tribunal on the ground that the election was marred by irregularities.
