APC’s Titus Zam defeats Ortom to clinch senate seat

Samuel Ortom, governor of Benue, has lost his senatorial bid to Titus Zam, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate.

Rufus Shaato, the returning officer for Benue north-west senatorial election, announced the results on Monday at the INEC local government collation centre in Makurdi, the state capital.

In a race to clinch the state’s north-west senatorial seat, Zam raked in 143,151 votes to defeat Ortom who got 106,882 votes.

Emmanuel Orker-Jev of the PDP currently represents the senatorial district.

Ortom had earlier said he was ready to lose his bid to ensure Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) wins the presidential election. 

The Benue governor is also part of a five-member group of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) — G-5 governors — who are at loggerheads with the national leadership of the party.

TheCable had, on Saturday, reported how Ortom cast his vote for Obi in the presidential election at his polling unit in Tse-Ortom, Mzondu ward, Guma LGA of the state.

Speaking to journalists after his victory, Zam said the results proved that the era of imposing “non-performing candidates on the masses” was over.

He said people are now politically conscious and they would vote out “ineffective” representatives.

Zam was Ortom’s special adviser on bureau for local government and chieftaincy affairs from 2015 to 2017.