The Jime – Ode campaign Organisation has vowed to challenge the declaration of Governor Samuel Ortom as re-elected by Independent National Election Commission (INEC).

Its Secretary Professor Eugene Aliegba, in a statement, alleged the supplementary election was fraught with irregularities such as votes buying, massive thump printing and intimidation of voters.

He said:”Moments ago, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), upon completion of the collation of results in the Benue supplementary elections, made a pronouncement on the outcome of the 2019 governorship election, declaring Mr Samuel Ortom of the PDP winner of the governorship contest in Benue State.

“We note that the announcement by INEC marks the end of another phase in this year’s electoral cycle.

“When we embarked on this journey many months ago, it was to translate to reality the dreams of a better future to our long suffering people.

“Our message resonated with the electorate because they could tell our project was about service, not hinged on intent to occupy office for the sake of it.

“And even as the results as declared don’t appear to reflect the will of most of these same people, we call on our supporters to remain extremely calm and law abiding as they’ve been throughout the campaigns and electioneering period.”

He added: “Going into this contest, we were well aware of the fact that only one of two outcomes was possible; either we won fairly in line with the massive support we earned from the people; or another winner emerged through a credible and transparent process.

‘’We did not anticipate a third option that confers advantage to those who played dubiously outside the laid down rules of the game.

“And because the results announced in favour of Governor Ortom and the PDP is a direct product of brutal violence, vote buying, ballot-stuffing, results-falsification, non use of the card reader and a range of other irregularities that have no place in our electoral laws, we are making it unequivocally clear that the Benue APC will explore all constitutional and legal options available to ensure the votes of the people count.

“In simple terms, we will make a case before the Election Petitions Tribunal to subject the Benue governorship elections result to an integrity test.”

•Sourced from The Nation report

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