Benue South Senate race: David Mark declared winner

Benue South Senate race: David Mark declared winner

Sunday, February 21, 2016 8:43 am


David Mark voting on Saturday

David Mark voting on Saturday

The Independent National Electoral Commission has declared former senate President David Mark winner of the Benue South rerun election held,on Saturday.

In the collated result announced this morning, Mark won 84,192 votes while his younger challenger, Daniel Onjeh of the All Progressives Congress (APC) got 71,621 Votes.

Mark won in five local council areas, while Onjeh won in four.

But there could still be grounds to challenge the victory as INEC returning officer Ishaq Eneji, cancelled 29, 273 votes, far more than the 12, 571 vote margin between Mark and his challenger.

Daniel Onjey voting on Saturday

Daniel Onjey voting on Saturday

Onjeh who had initially tweeted a congratulatory message to mark around 4.43 a.m deleted the message, perhaps based on this information.

However, the returning officer ignored the protest by the APC agent that the election be declared inconclusive and went ahead to announce Mark as the winner.

“Having satisfied the requirement of the law, David Bournaventure is hereby declared winner, Mr. Eneji announced.

While 522, 713 were registered for the election, only 165, 093 were accredited, indicating voters apathy across the senatorial zone.The total votes cast was 159,557, out of which 155,813 votes were held valid, while 3,744 were rejected as invalid.

Mark secured victory in Ado, Agatu, Apa, Otukpo and Okpokwu local government areas, while dominated in four— Ogbadigbo, Ohimini, Obi and Oju LGAs.

Since 1999, Mark has been the Senator representing the district in central Nigeria.

Onjeh, a former student union activist and newspaper publisher challenged Mark’s victory in the 28 March election last year. AN appeal court ordered the fresh election.

Breakdown of the election in each Local Government Council is as follows:
1. Ado LGA
APC – 6370
PDP – 6513
2. Agatu LGA
APC – 3458
PDP – 7986
3. Apa LGA
APC – 4943
PDP – 9191
4. Obi LGA
APC – 8585
PDP – 7043
5. Ohimini LGA
APC – 6192
PDP – 5923
6. Okpokwu LGA
APC – 6830
PDP – 11935
7. Otukpo LGA
APC – 12203
PDP – 18468
8. Oju LGA
APC – 14159
PDP – 10289
9. Ogbadibo LGA
APC – 8882
PDP – 6844
Difference = 12,571 votes


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