The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, Wednesday affirmed Emmanuel Udende of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the Benue North East Senatorial seat of Benue state.

The Benue State National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal led by Justice Ori Zik-Ikeoha had earlier entered judgment in favour of Senator Gabriel Suswam.

However, Emmanuel Udende and his party (APC) appealed against the judgment. The appellants had prayed the court to set aside the judgment of the Benue State National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal, which invalidated their election victory and declared Suswam of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as the valid winner of the Benue North East Senatorial seat.

The Appeal Court on Wednesday sustained the appeal and nullified the decision of the lower court and affirmed Emmanuel Udende who was earlier declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the winner of Benue North East senatorial seat.

The three-man panel of the appeal court held that the lower court erred by declaring Susam as the winner of the election.

The Appeal court held that the tribunal was wrong in it re-calculating of the votes, and questioned the procedure used in the deduction of the votes from the APC’s votes.
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