Benue guber: ‘I defeated Ortom with 2,224 votes’ – Jime declares

-Parties to Address Tribunal on Unsigned Witness Statement

By. Denen Achussah.

The 2019 All Progressives Congress (APC) Governorship candidate in Benue State Emmanuel Jime, has told the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Makurdi, the state capital to declare him winner of the election on the ground that he scored 2224 votes more than Samuel Ortom.

Jime was under cross examination as PW17, when he told the Honourable Tribunal.

The witness said he was part of the team that analysed report from polling unit agents, Certify True Copy of declarartion of election result forms (EC8A, EC8B, EC8C and EC8E), Voters Register, card reader report and guidelines and manual for election officials 2019, which forms the basis for his petition and the prayer for the Tribunal to declare him winner of the election.

“I put together a team and as a lawyer myself, I sat along that team to analyse the documents,” Jime told the Tribunal.

When asked by Uyi Igunma of counsel to INEC if he has tendered all the documents listed in the petition, he answered: “We have tendered the documents that are relevant to establish our case.”

When asked by Sabastine Hon SAN, if entries on the result form were not correct, Jime told the Tribunal that it was the reason he was challenging the result.

The petitiiner, who said he had agents in all the 3, 687 polling units in the state, insisted, when shown Exhibit EC8E (Declarartion of result form) that if he believed he lost the election he would not have approached the Tribunal.

Other witnesses who testified during the morning session of today’s hearing include PW18 and PW19.

Both admitted on oath that they observed over voting during the election.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Tribunal Honourable Justice Henry A. Olusiyi has orderedd counsel to all the parties to address the Tribunal on the ground that his copy of Jime’s witness statement on oath is neither commissioned nor signed.

Hearing in the matter will continue at 3:15pm.