THE court of appeal in Abuja has affirmed the victory of Ahmadu Fintiri as the duly elected governor of Adamawa state.
The Court dismissed a petition by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its governorship candidate, Aisha ‘Binani’ Dahiru.
Binani and APC, in their petition, sought to nullify the election of Fintiri as governor of Adamawa state.
In its judgment on Monday, December 18, the court held that the Adamawa governorship election petition tribunal was correct in proclaiming Fintiri as the winner of the poll.
In October, the ICIR reported that the Adamawa State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Yola dismissed the petition by Binani against the re-election of Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Binani, in her petition, which had the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Fintiri and the PDP as the first, second and third respondents, respectively, alleged that the election was not in substantial compliance with the Electoral Act.
Binani and APC jointly filed the petition on May 6, 2023, alleging that the election conducted first on March 18, 2023, and the rerun on April 15, were marred by thuggery, ballot papers and BVA snatching, and harassment of electoral officers.
However, delivering the judgement on October 28, the tribunal chairman, T. O. Uloho dismissed the petition and affirmed Fintiri’s victory.
Uloho said the petitioners failed to establish their allegations of non-compliance with the Electoral Act.
She said all documents tendered by the petitioners were dumped on the tribunal and that their star witness did not link any of the documents with their material allegations.
The tribunal held that the petitioners failed to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt.
The panel equally held that the declaration of Binani as the poll winner by the suspended Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Hudu Ari-Yunusa was null and void.
On April 18, 2023, INEC declared Fintiri the winner of the governorship election after a supplementary election was held to conclude the process which was initially declared inconclusive.
A reporter with the ICIR
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