The Court of Appeal has sacked former Governor Gabriel Suswam as the lawmaker representing Benue North Senatorial District.
In a unanimous judgment on Wednesday, a three-member panel held among others that 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 affirmed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmaker as winner of the election.
The National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Makurdi, Benue State had declared Suswam winner of the election, sacking the All Progressives Congress’ (APC) Emmanuel Udende.
Suswam, a member of the 9th senate, had lost his bid to return to the upper chamber of the National Assembly.
But the appeal court upturned the tribunal judgment and asked the Independent National Electoral Commission to reissue 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.
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