By Amos Aar, with agency report.
BENUE State governor, Samuel Ortom, has lost his bid for the Benue North-West Senatorial seat to his former aide, Dr Titus Zam of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Declaring the result, the Returning Officer, Rufus Shaa’ato, said Dr Zam polled 143,151votes to beat Governor Ortom of the People Democratic Party (PDP) who polled 106,882 votes, while Mark Gbillah of the Labour Party (LP) polled 51,950 votes.
Shaa’ato stated that Zam was declared the winner having satisfied the requirements of the Electoral Law.
Zam was Governor Ortom’s Special Adviser on Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs from 2015 to 2017.
Unconfirmed but reliable reports also indicate that former governor, Gabriel Suswam, also lost his bid to return to the Senate where he is currently representing Benue North-East on the platform of the PDP.
Suswam reportedly lost to Emmanuel Udende of the All Progressives Congress.
The third slot for the Senate from Benue South has been retained by PDP’s Senator Abba Moro who beat APC’s Daniel Onje and Labour Party’s Joseph Ojobo.
Moro scored 76,459 to defeat his closet rival, Onjeh, who got 59,959 and Ojobo, who polled 40,194, according to the returning officer for Benue South Senatorial election, Prof. Robert Tee of Joseph Saawuan Tarka university, Makurdi.
National Record reports that all House of Representatives elections in the state were swept by the APC based on the results so far.
