Speaker hails judgment restoring constituency in Benue

The Speaker of the Benue House of Assembly, Terkimbi Ikyange, has hailed the judgment of a Makurdi High Court compelling the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct election into the suppressed Mbagwa State Constituency. Ikyange, who is representing Ushongo State Constituency on the platform of All Progressives Congress, gave the commendation during chat with newsmen in Makurdi on Sunday. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Ushongo Local Government Area of the state used to have Ushongo and Mbagwa constituencies, but the latter was suppressed by INEC. Concerned constituents took the matter to court in 2015 and judgment was given in their favour. The court urged INEC to restore the constituency and conduct election into it within 90 days. But the commission did not obey the order. Consequently, Ikyange; Mike Andoakaa, a former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice; and Hyacinth Nyakuma, among others, also filed the same case in 2014 at the same court. The speaker, who told newsmen that having two constituencies from his area was a thing of great joy to him, added that with the judgment in their favour, his joy knew no bounds. Ikyange said: “I am aware that if we have two constituencies from my local government, that will trigger more development to our area. “It was because of this fact that I supported the move.” Ikyange accused some journalists of not verifying their stories before going to press, stressing that they rather ended up misinforming the people. He said some journalists wrongly reported that Justice Binta Nyako ordered the commission to retrieve his Certificate of Return and conduct elections into the two constituencies. He said: “This was not the judgment. “Rather, the judge urged the commission to restore the suppressed constituency and conduct election into it within 90 days as earlier ruled in 2014 and not otherwise as reported by a section of the media. “The commission will conduct election only in Mbagwa constituency because I am already in the Assembly and I am from the existing constituency, which is Ushongo.”