Court affirms Suswam as Benue gov

THE Benue State governor, Mr Gabriel Suswam, on Wednesday, won at the Court of Appeal sitting in Makurdi, as the court dismissed the appeal brought by the governorship candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Professor Steven Ugbah, challenging the decision of the election tribunal which declined jurisdiction to entertain his petition, as a result of the expiration of 180 days stipulated by the Electoral Act.In his judgment, Justice Menson Dombang averred that once the time frame within which a petition should be filed, heard and determined exceeded a day, the petition became dead and ceased to exist.Justice Dombang said the order by the Supreme Court for the retrial of the case, after the expiration of 180 days, could not hold, as the petition was no longer alive at the time of the order.The judge maintained that the appeal was misconceived, while he upheld the preliminary objections made by lawyers representing Governor Suswam on the matter.One of the counsel for Suswam, Chief E. K. Ashieka and counsel for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr C. A. Gbihe, lauded the judgment, while counsel for Ugbah, Simon Orkumah, said his client would appeal at the Supreme Court.
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