THE Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom has been re-elected for a second tenure under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
According to the final results declared on Sunday by the Returning Officer for the state gubernatorial election, Prof Sabastian Maimako of the University of Jos, Ortom polled 434,473 as against the 345,155 garnered by his main challenger, Emmanuel Jime of the All Progressive Congress (APC).
The figure indicates a winning margin of 89,318.
Maimako said the number of registered voters was 2,471, 894 out which the number of accredited voters was 858,947.
Of this, the total valid votes cast was 830,954; rejected votes were 15,268 while total valid votes cast was 846,222.
Maimiko said having recorded the highest number of valid votes, the incumbent governor was returned elected.
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Recalled that the state March 9 gubernatorial election had been declared inconclusive because the cancelled votes from the exercise exceeded Ortom’s margin of lead.
The PDP gubernatorial candidate had led his main opponent by 81,554 in the original election having polled 410,576 to his main opponent’s 329,022.
The governor, however, won the supplementary gubernatorial election conducted on Saturday in 22 of the 23 local government areas in the State.
He polled 23,897 to beat Jime who scored 16,133, leaving him with a margin of victory of 7,764 in the supplementary election.
The Returning Officer said having satisfied the requirements of the law and scored the highest number of votes, Ortom was declared the winner and returned elected.
The declaration was followed by a spontaneous eruption of celebration in some streets in Makurdi as party supporters danced and sang to mark the victory.