The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the election of Samuel Ortom of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the governor of Benue State.
Justice Nwali Ngwuta, who delivered the unanimous judgement of six justices, held that the appeal of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Tarhemen Tarzoor, lacked merit.
Ngwuta held that the appellants had no “locus standi’’ to challenge the nomination of a candidate of another political party.
“The appellants can best be described as interlopers. The appeal is therefore dismissed for lacking in merit,’’ he said.
The PDP and Tarzoor had appeal against the judgment of the Makurdi Court of Appeal which upheld the judgment of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in the April polls.
The Court of Appeal had affirmed the election of Ortom as governor of the state.
The appellants had contended that Ortom was not validly nominated by the APC to stand for the election.
