Tribunal affirms Benue deputy speaker’s election

The National and State Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Makurdi on Thursday upheld the election of the Deputy Speaker of Benue State House of Assembly, Mrs. Danladi Lami.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Lami of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the March 18 election held in Ado State Constituency ahead of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Mrs. Agnes Uloko.

Uloko, however, challenged the outcome of the election on the grounds that the APC candidate was not qualified to take part in the exercise.

She alleged that the APC candidate presented a forged certificate to INEC before the election.

READ ALSO: Tribunal upholds APC Wombo’s election in Benue federal constituency

She asked the tribunal to nullify Lami’s victory and declare her as the winner of the election.

In its ruling, the three-member panel headed by Justice Ory-Zik Okeorha dismissed the petition for lack of merit.

Justice Zik-Okeorha, who read the judgement, held that the issue of certificate forgery was a pre-election matter and awarded N700,000 against the petitioner.

Uloko will pay N500,000 to Lami and N100,000 each to APC and INEC which were listed as second and third respondents in the case.

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