Senator Mark of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) emerged victorious after securing 84,192 votes compared with 71,621 gathered that of his main challenger Donald Onjeh of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Mr Onjeh, a former student union leader was unable to garner enough votes to prevent Senator Mark from securing a record fifth term in office.
Professor Ishaku Eneji, Inec's returning officer in Benue State, has officially declared Senator Mark the winner on the elections. This election became necessary after November 28 when the Court of Appeal nullified Senator Mark's election in the original election last year when judges ruled that he was declared the winner illegally.
Senator Mark, 67, has represented Benue South since Nigeria's return to democracy in 1999 and between 2007 and 2015, he was the senate president. Nigeria's longest serving senator, he is a leading member of the PDP and has been touted as a possible future presidential candidate.
In its November ruling, the Makurdi division of the Court of Appeal ordered a re-run of the poll within 90 days. Judges agreed with Mr Onjeh that while the collation of results for the Benue South senatorial district were still ongoing in seven of the nine local government areas of the district, Inec declared Senator Mark the winner of the poll.
The breakdown of the results from each local government area (LGA):
Ado LGA: APC – 6,370; PDP – 6,513
Agatu LGA: APC – 3,458; PDP – 7,986
Apa LGA: APC – 4,943; PDP – 9,191
Obi LGA: APC – 8,585; PDP – 7,043
Ohimini LGA: APC – 6,192; PDP – 5,923
Okpokwu LGA: APC – 6,830; PDP – 1,1935
Otukpo LGA: APC – 12,203; PDP – 18,468
Oju LGA: APC – 14,159; PDP – 10,289
Ogbadibo LGA: APC – 8,882; PDP – 6,844
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