The Court of Appeal in Abuja has sacked the former governor of Benue state, Gabriel Suswam, as the Senator representing Benue North East Senatorial District.
A unanimous judgment on Wednesday, November 1, by a three-member panel, held among others that Gabriel Suswam was not the actual winner of the senatorial election held on February 25.
The appellate court faulted the earlier judgement of the National and State Houses of Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal, which had affirmed Suswam, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of the election after it set aside the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) return of Emmanuel Udende of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the poll.
The Court of Appeal voided the certificate of return issued to Gabriel Suswam and ordered INEC to issue a new certificate of return to Udende.
It held that the tribunal did not properly evaluate the evidence presented before it by the parties while hearing the petition by Suswam and thereby arrived at an erroneous conclusion that upheld the petition, which challenged Udende’s election victory.
The court proceeded to allow the appeal by Udende and set aside the judgement of the tribunal.
Justice Abimbola Obaseki-Adejumo, who read the judgment, said: “The judgement of the tribunal delivered on September 8 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.”