Benue: Ortom loses Senate seat

All Progressives Congress (APC)’s Titus Zam has beaten his former boss Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State to the Benue North West senatorial seat in the election carried out on Saturday.

Benue State’s Returning officer, Prof. Rufus Shaato, who declared the results said Zam scored a total of 143,151 votes to emerge winner of the election as against Ortom who polled a total of 106,882 votes to come second while the Labour Party candidate, Mark Gbillah, had 51,950 votes.

Meanwhile, the results from various polling units, wards and local government area collation centres across the senatorial district indicated that the governor lost in six of the seven local government areas winning only his native Guma.

The senator-elect was Ortom’s Special Adviser on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs during his first tenure.