Godwin Tsa, Abuja

The Senator representing Benue North West at the Senate, Senator Emmanuel Orker-Jev has called on the Minister of Special Duties, Senator George Akume to join hands in the onerous task of bringing development to the state.

He made the call in Abuja while reacting to the judgment of the Court of Appeal sitting in Makurdi division, which upheld his victory at the National and State House of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal.

Senator Oker-Jev who described the Petition filed against him by Senator Akume as a distraction expressed his gratitude to God and the people of Zone B who voted and stood by the mandate.

“I am very grateful to God and the people of Zone B who voted and stood by the mandate.I promised them that will fight to keep the mandate.

“The litigation has put everything to end. I dedicate the victory to the people who voted and defended their votes.

“The whole essence of the litigation was needless, baseless and a waste of time.

“Senator Akume’s precious time and resources which he would have channelled to other meaningful ventures were rather committed to the case.

“It was just a distraction.Now to concentrate on the people. Not to disappoint them. I take the mandate very seriously. To provide dividends of democraccy to my constituents.

“I call on Akume to support him . As an Executive, I am in the legislature, we can still collaborate and bring meaningful development to our people. On my part, I offer myself to collaborate with him on all issues,” Senator Oker-Jev stated.

The National and State House of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Makurdi, Benue State, had in it’s judgment dismissed the petition filed by Senator George Akume challenging the victory of Senator Emmanuel Orker-Jev representing Benue North-West Senatorial District.

The Independent National Electoral Commission had returned Orker-Jev of the Peoples Democratic Party as winner of the February 23, 2019 election.

Akume had approached the tribunal to upturn Orker-Jev’s victory and declare him as the substantive winner.

In his judgment, Chairman of the tribunal, Justice P. O Odudu, maintained that the petition challenging the election did not cover less than 404 polling units but the petitioner had brought less than 20 witnesses.

Odudu said, “The petitioner is required to provide evidence polling unit by polling unit, ward by ward.

“Even if all 20 witnesses’ evidence were to be proven, it would just be like a drop of water in an ocean and therefore of no consequence to the overall result.”

He, therefore, dismissed the petition and awarded N100,000 damages each to the first and second respondents (Orker-Jev and INEC), who were joined in the petition to be paid by the petitioner.

The Minister of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, George Akume, who lost the last Benue North-West Senatorial District election to the Peoples Democratic Party’s Emmanuel Orker-Jev, has filed an appeal against the judgment of the election petitions tribunal which affirmed the outcome of the February 23, 2019 poll.

Akume, a former governor of Benue State and former Minority Leader in the Senate, is a member of President Muhammadu Buhari’s newly constituted cabinet.

The tribunal held, among others that Akume failed to prove the allegations of irregularities and over-voting contained in his petition to warrant the cancellation of the results of the poll in Buruku, Gwer West and Gboko local government areas in the senatorial district.

The tribunal held, among others that Akume failed to prove the allegations of irregularities and over-voting contained in his petition to warrant the cancellation of the results of the poll in Buruku, Gwer West and Gboko local government areas in the senatorial district.

However, dissatisfied with the judgment of the tribunal, Senator Akume on September 24, 2019, filed a notice of appeal with 14 grounds against the unanimous judgment of the tribunal delivered on September 11, 2019.

The former governor, through his counsel, M.I Dikko, in his appeal filed before the Makurdi Division of the Court of Appeal, prayed for, among others, an order granting his appeal and another setting aside the tribunal’s judgment, “except the part of the judgment which held that appellants were not outside the law in the issuance of pre-hearing notice in respect of the 3rd respondent.”

He also prayed for an order returning him “as the winner of the election held in the Benue North-West Senatorial District having scored the highest number of valid votes cast.” the alternative, he prayed for “an order nullifying the election conducted on February 23, 2019 in the affected polling units, wards, and local government areas in dispute and in their stead to order for the conduct of rerun between the appellants and the 1st and 2nd respondents.”

But in a unanimous judgment, the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit and upheld the decision of the National and State Houses of Assembly election petition tribunal.