Benue Election: Jime Concedes Defeat, Congratulates Ortom Via Phone Call

Bakare LukmanMarch 23, 2019

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Governorship candidate of the Ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for Benue State in the ongoing 2019 general elections, Barr. Emmanuel Jime, has congratulated his opponent, incumbent Governor Samuel Ortom, via telephone call, for emerging victorious in the Saturday March 23, 2019 supplementary election.

Barr. Emmanuel Jime, who could not wait for the official collation of results to show his sportsmanship, made the call Saturday evening at exactly 6:05PM (local time) as results of the supplementary election began filtering through the socal media with the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate, Samuel Ortom, coasting home to victory with unassailable margin.

Recall that in the first round of the election held Saturday 9th March, 2019, Ortom had polled 410,576 votes against Jime’s 329,022 votes, leading the later with 81,554 votes margin.

The election was however declared inconclusive and Saturday 23rd March, 2019 was fixed by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for the supplementary election because, according to the country’s electoral guidelines, elections were cancelled or could not be held in polling units with a total of 121,019 registered voters since the margin of lead between the APC and PDP was less than the number of cancelled votes.

Governor Samuel Ortom’s victory is coming amidst outcry by majority of Benue people over the Governor’s abysmal performance in office, especially in the areas of salaries and other basic infrastructures.

Jime, a lawyer cum politician, is a three term former House of Representatives member representing Makurdi/Guma Federal Constituency.