Emmanuel Udende of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was declared the winner of the Benue North East senatorial seat by the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal on Wednesday.
Judge Ori Zik-Ikeoha's Benue State National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal had already rendered a decision in favor of Senator Gabriel Suswam.
Emmanuel Udende and the APC, on the other hand, challenged the ruling. The appellants had asked the court to overturn the ruling of the Benue State National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal, which had ruled that Suswam of the Peoples Democratic Party, or PDP, was the legitimate winner of the Benue North East Senatorial seat and annulled their election victory.
Emmanuel Udende, who had earlier been proclaimed the winner of the Benue North East senatorial seat by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), was upheld by the Appeal Court on Wednesday, which also upheld the appeal and overturned the lower court's ruling.
The appeal court's three-member panel ruled that Susam should not have been declared the election's victor by the lower court.
The Appeal Court ruled that the Tribunal had erred in recalculating the votes and questioned the process by which the APC's votes were subtracted.