THE Adamawa State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Yola has dismissed the petition by Senator Aishatu Binani of the All Progressives Congress (APC) against the re-election of Ahmadu 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 the 6th of May, 2023, alleging that the election conducted first on March 18, 2023, and the rerun on 15th April, were marred by thuggery, ballot papers and BVA snatching, and harassment of electoral officers.
However, delivering the judgement on Saturday, 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 any of 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 winner of the poll by the suspended Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Hudu Ari-Yunusa was null and void.
On April 18, 2023, INEC declared Fintiri winner of the governorship election after a supplementary election was held to conclude the process which was initially declared inconclusive.
Nurudeen Akewushola is an investigative reporter and fact-checker with The ICIR. He believes courageous in-depth investigative reporting is the key to social justice, accountability and good governance in society. You can reach him via nyahaya@icirnigeria.org and @NurudeenAkewus1 on Twitter.