Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the governorship election in Benue inconclusive.
According to the result released by INEC, Governor Samuel Ortom who contested on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) polled a total of 410,576 votes followed by the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Emmanuel Jime who polled a total of 329,022 votes.
State Returning Officer, Prof. Sabastine Maimako, who announced the results disclosed that the reason for declaring the election inconclusive was because the total number of canceled votes was more than the margin of win.
He gave the total number of canceled votes as 121,019 as against the margin of the win which is 81, 554.
Maimako noted that as a result of the difference, the election had to be declared inconclusive adding that a supplementary election would hold within 21 days.