MINISTER of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed has explained why President Muhammadu Buhari did not intervene in the Adamawa State governorship election despite the controversy that trailed the actions of the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Hudu Ari.

The ICIR had reported how the Adamawa Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) REC Ari announced All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate Aishatu Binani as winner of the gubernatorial election while collation was still ongoing.

Following the development, INEC suspended the REC and subsequently reported him to Buhari for further sanctions. 

Speaking during an interactive session with journalists on Wednesday, April 19, information minister Mohammed said Buhari did not intervene in the Adamawa poll because the President has never interfered in the way INEC conducts its operations.

He added that Buhari does not control any institution of government.

“The President does not micromanage any institution. I don’t think that this government has ever intervened in the way the Independent National Electoral Commission conducts elections. It was entirely an INEC matter and INEC has handled it.

“The President before the elections promised that he would provide a level playing ground and he is doing that.

“In the first instance, he did not confer any advantage on the ruling party and that is why, as far as we are concerned, we would rather lose the election than win at all costs. And the results showed it. The President lost the presidential election in his own state, Katsina. It has never happened before for a sitting president to lose in his own state,” he said.

The ICIR also reported that incumbent governor and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Fintiri, was declared the winner of the election.

Fintiri won the supplementary election with 9,337 votes. He defeated Binani of the APC, who came second in the poll with 6,513 votes.

The supplementary poll was conducted in 69 polling units in the 20 local governments in the state, with less than 40,000 eligible voters.

For both the main election and the rerun, the governor polled a total of 430,861 votes while the APC candidate scored 398,788 votes.