The Benue state Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described the reaction of the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Emmanuel Jime to the tribunal’s decision which validated the victory of Governor Samuel Ortom as not only laughable, but self -aggrandizement.
Jime claimed in his reaction that the tribunal in its judgement on his petition denied him justice and also failed to give justice to the suffering Benue masses.
The PDP reacting to the claim by the APC flag bearer observed that “we find such utterances laughable and a mockery of the judiciary which the APC governorship candidate, as a lawyer is a part of even as we wonder which Benue people he is referring to.”
A statement signed by the state PDP Publicity Secretary, Mr. Bemgba Iortyom, said majority of Benue people voted Gov. Ortom for a second term with 434, 473 votes against Jime’s 345, 155 votes representing a margin of 89, 318 votes on the first ballot.
According to him, despite such a huge defeat margin, the election was declared inconclusive by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) on March 9.
“This triggered widespread jubilation by the APC in the state as they boasted raucously that they were going to enjoy the advantage of federal might from Abuja with which to crush Gov. Ortom at the supplementary election ordered by INEC.
“But when that came, the governor again won comprehensively, extending the defeat margin over Jime to close to 100, 000 votes,” the PDP said.
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The statement pointed out that the tribunal’s judgement last Monday, only confirmed the popular electoral mandate which the Benue electorate overwhelmingly bestowed to Gov. Ortom over two rounds of elections.
It said Jime’s allegation that the tribunal denied him and the suffering Benue people justice is from all indications a ploy which targets to achieve for him pecuniary gains from sponsors of his party and as well keep its gullible followers loyal to his perennial political ambitions.
“For emphasis, it is on record that when Jime and APC approached the tribunal, they boasted that they would prove their claim that the 2019 governorship election in Benue state did not comply substantially with the electoral law.
“Some of the grounds canvassed in their petition were that the second respondent (Samuel Ortom) was not duly elected by lawful votes cast, that the election of the second respondent was invalid by reason of non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act, 2010 as amended as well as irregularities observed in 400 polling units,” the statement added.
Iortyom further pointed out that when they filed a response to the governor’s reply to their petition, they increased the number of polling units to 626, but the tribunal in its wisdom deferred ruling on the applications and struck out the additional witness statement filed by the petitioners, which also went with the additional polling units, leaving the total of polling units they had earlier complained in their original petition at 400.
The statement said Jime failed to prove even the first three grounds of his petition which centred on alleged irregularities, over- voting and substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act and also failed to prove that he won majority of lawful votes cast at the election
He urged Jime and his supporters to respect the sanctity of the judiciary and refrain from casting aspersions on it and accept the fact that Benue people clearly rejected them at the polls as the courts cannot turn to a “father Christmas and offer to them what they do not deserve.”
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