The Court of Appeal in Abuja has made a unanimous decision, sacking Gabriel Suswam, the former Governor of Benue State, from his position as a Senator.
This decision comes after a thorough evaluation of the senatorial election that took place in Benue North East on February 25.
The Appellate Court found that Suswam was not the valid winner of the election and criticized the earlier judgment of the Benue State National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal, which had returned Suswam of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the Senate.
The Tribunal had nullified the election victory of Mr. Emmanuel Udende of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The Court of Appeal concluded that the tribunal had incorrectly evaluated the evidence presented by the parties involved, leading to an erroneous decision that upheld Suswam’s petition against Udende’s election victory.
As a result, the court voided the tribunal’s judgment, affirming the appeal lodged by the APC candidate. The court’s lead verdict, delivered by Justice Abimbola Osarugue Obaseki Adejumo, stated, “The judgment of the tribunal delivered on 8/9/2023 is hereby set aside. The return of the Appellant as the winner of the Benue North East senatorial election that was held on February 25 is hereby affirmed. Parties are to bear their respective costs.”
To provide some context, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had initially declared Udende as the winner of the senatorial election, with 135,573 votes, defeating Senator Suswam, who received 112,231 votes.
However, Suswam was not content with this outcome and filed a petition with the tribunal, alleging over-voting, irregularities, alterations, and falsification of results during the election. The tribunal acknowledged that irregularities occurred in five out of seven Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the Senatorial District. It canceled 51,895 votes for Senator Udende and 21,229 votes for Senator Suswam.
After these deductions, Senator Suswam was left with 90,590 votes, and Senator Udende had 82,699 votes. Initially, the tribunal had ruled in Suswam’s favor, but this decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal on Wednesday.
