Supreme court upholds elections of Ortom, Fintiri

The supreme court has upheld the elections of Samuel Ortom, governor of Benue state, and Ahmadu Fintiri, his Adamawa state counterpart.

The apex court dismissed the appeal of Emmanuel Jime, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the March gubernatorial election in Benue, for lacking in merit.

Jime had challenged Ortom’s reelection on the grounds of substantial noncompliance with the provisions of Electoral Act, 2010 as amended.

Jime and the APC relied heavily on the smart card readers used in the conduct of the election which they said proved over voting.

However, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Ortom and the PDP urged the court to dismiss the appellant’s prayers.

Sebastine Hon, counsel to Ortom, submitted that the appellants have no evidence to support their case as the tribunal already struck out the evidence PW59 through whom the smart card reader report was tendered.

“The appeal is overwhelmingly dependent on the card reader. The appellants’ case swims and sinks with the card reader” he said.

“However, the tribunal struck out the evidence of P59 through whom they tendered the card reader report.

“Appellants appealed to the court of appeal against that ruling but they willingly withdrew it and it was dismissed.”

Reading the Judgment, Sylvester Nwuta, a judge, said: “I have considered all the issues in this appeal and I agree with learned counsel for the respondents that the cocurrent judgment of the tribunal and the court of appeal should not be disturbed.”

In the case of Adamawa, the apex court struck out the case of Bindow. The APC candidate, who was the incumbent governor, had filed against the victory of Fintiri.

He was declared winner of the election with 376, 552 ahead of Bindow who polled 336, 386. Bindow predicated his appeal on the grounds of over-voting in 385 out of 2609 polling units.

He also alleged noncompliance with the provisions of the Electoral act. He submitted that the total invalid votes to be deducted from the PDP is 82,038 while the total invalid votes to be deducted from the APC is 33, 716.

Goddy Uche who represented the appellants urged the court to set aside the concurrent decisions of the two lower courts as they are “perverse”.

However, the court held that the appellants have failed to prove their case.