The incumbent Senators, Barnabas Gemade and Mike Onoja withdrew for governor Gabriel Suswam and Senator David Mark respectively in the Benue state primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday.
Consequently, the Senate President and the governor have secured tickets to contest the senatorial election with other political parties in the 2015 general elections.
Mike Mku also secured the party’s ticket for his senatorial zone.
The primary for Benue South Senatorial District was held at the Otukpo local government secretariat.
Announcing the results on Sunday in Otukpo, the Returning Officer for the election, John Akume, said Senator Mark scored 384 votes to pick the party’s ticket while his only rival, Mike Onoja, withdrew from the race hours to its commencement.
Mark has represented the zone, comprising Otukpo, Okpokwu, Ado, Ogbadibo, Agatu, Oju, Obi, Ohimini and Apa local government councils at the senate for since 1999.
At the Akume Atongo stadium, where the primaries for the Benue North East Senatorial seat held, Gabriel Suswam polled 312 votes to emerge the winner.
In a post-election speech, Suswam thanked the people of the zone for their support during his tenure as governor and for nominating him as their flag bearer for the 2015 general elections.
At the Aper Aku Stadium in Makurdi, the returning officer for the Benue North West Senatorial District, Bob Nenge, said Mike Mku polled 168 votes to beat three others.
The others were former Speaker, Benue House of Assembly, Terseer Tsumba, Laha Dzever and Sam Bula.
According to the results, Tsumba scored 56 votes, Mr. Bula got 3 votes while Mr. Dzever scored 101 votes.
Speaking to newsmen after the contest, Mku commended the electoral panel for conducting a free and fair election and promised to work hard to ensure victory for the party in 2015.
He appealed to the losers to join him for the overall victory of the party at the general elections.
Mku is set to meet Sen George Akume, who is a consensus aspirant on the platform of the APC at the 2015 general elections. [myad]
