THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has resumed collating results of the supplementary poll for the Adamawa State governorship election.
The development came two days after the Commission’s Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Hudu Yunusa Ari, a lawyer, illegally declared the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Aisha Dahiru (also known as Binani), the winner of the election.
INEC headquarters fumed at Ari’s action, which sparked protests in parts of the state, especially by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), whose candidate and incumbent Governor Ahmadu Fintiri was leading before the declaration.
The ICIR reported how the INEC headquarters in Abuja summoned Ari minutes after he declared Binani the winner.
The Commission also invited its other staff involved in the declaration to Abuja and consequently suspended the collation of results of the supplementary poll.
On Monday, April 17, The ICIR reported how the Commission suspended the REC from office.
Hours later, on Tuesday, April 18, the election umpire resolved to write the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, for immediate arrest and prosecution of the erring REC.
While the drama played out, Binani approached a Federal High Court in Abuja to stop the Commission from halting her ‘victory.’
The ICIR reports that Ari declared Binani winner while the collation of results is yet to be concluded. According to Electoral Act (2022), the Returning Officer for the election, rather than the REC, has the power to declare the winner of an election.
Fintiri had the highest number of votes cast in the governorship election held on March 18, but some votes were cancelled, and the election could not hold in some parts of the state, forcing INEC to declare the exercise inconclusive.
Fintiri polled 421,524, while Binani secured 390, 275 in the March 18 election.
The incumbent governor won 13 of Adamawa’s 21 local government areas, while Binani won eight LGAs in the first round of the exercise on March 18.
Similarly, Fintiri was leading in the supplementary votes counted in 10 out of the 20 local government areas before the REC made his pronouncement.
Marcus bears the light, and he beams it everywhere. He's a good governance and decent society advocate. He's The ICIR Reporter of the Year 2022 and has been the organisation's News Editor since September 2023. Contact him via email @ [email protected]