The governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party in Benue State, Samuel Ortom, has been re-elected for a second term.
The Returning Officer in the state, Prof. Maimako Sebastian, declared him the winner on Sunday after he polled 434,473 votes to beat his closest rival and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Emmanuel Jime, who got 345,155 votes.
The margin between the two parties is 89,318 votes after Saturday’s supplementary election. Ortom had polled 410,576 while Jime scored 329,022 votes during the March 9 governorship poll in the state.
However, the election was declared inconclusive by INEC due to the margin between the cancelled votes of 121,019 and the 81,554 votes margin between Ortom and Jime. The supplementary election was held in 204 polling units across 22 Local Government Areas.
There was anxiety in Benue after it was reported that unknown gunmen shot Comfort Dooshima, the collation officer for Gboko LGA of the state. Dooshima, a lecturer at the University of Agriculture, Benue, was attacked on her way to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) head office in Markurdi, the state capital, on Saturday night. She was apparently on her way to submit the result of the election in the local government.
Gov. Ortom won in 9 of 13 Local Government Areas (LGA’s) in the supplementary polls. The results of 13 councils as announced by various INEC Collation Officers on Sunday in Makurdi showed Ortom won Agatu, Apa, Ogbadibo, Gwer West, Buruku, Ukum, Kwande, Logo and Ushongo while Mr. Emmanuel Jime of the All Progressives Congress (APC) won in Tarka, Otukpo, Makurdi and Ohimini LGA’s.
