The Court of Appeal in Abuja has sacked the former Governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswam, from the Senate, The Herald reports.
In a unanimous decision by a three-member panel of Justices on Wednesday, the court upheld the appeal filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Emmanuel Udende, challenging the Benue State National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal’s judgment, which returned Suswam of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the Senate.
The appellate court held that the tribunal wrongly evaluated the evidence presented before it and arrived at an erroneous conclusion.
In its verdict delivered by Justice Abimbola Osarugue Obaseki Adejumo, the court set aside the tribunal’s judgment and affirmed Udende’s victory in the February 25 senatorial election.
Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Udende as winner of the senatorial election after he polled a total of 135,573 votes to defeat Senator Suswam who garnered 112,231 votes.
Not satisfied with the outcome of the election, Suswam approached the tribunal on the ground that it was marred by over-voting, irregularities, alterations and falsification of results.