After almost four weeks of intrigues and political brickmanship, the incumbent governor and the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ahmadu Fintiri has been declared winner of the Adamawa state governorship election.
The Adamawa governorship election which began March 18 this year with other States across Nigeria, suffered glitches that culminated to the supplementary election.
The Returning Officer for the Adamawa State governorship election, Prof. Mohammed Mele, on Tuesday declared Fintiri as the winner of the state governorship election.
According to Mele, Fintiri polled a total of 430,861 votes to beat his close rival of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Aisha Dahiru, popularly known as Binani, who amassed 398,788 votes.
Fintiri’s victory took place 48 hours after Binani was controversially declared the governor-elect by Barr. Hudu Yunusa-Ari.
It would be recalled that Binani was trailing Fintiri who had over 31, 000 votes in the first round of the election held on March 18.
At the resumption of results collation, the REC assumed the duty of the returning officer and declared the APC candidate, Aisha Binani as the winner of the election.
That spurious declaration of the election results midway into the collation exercise, triggered an uproar.
In a swift response, INEC promptly declared the REC, Hudu Ari’s action null and void, and also summoned the REC and his colleagues in the Adamawa State office to it’s headquarters in Abuja.
But reacting to the controversy that surrounded her premature declaration as the winner of the Adamawa’s election, the APC candidate, Aisha Binani denied allegations that she gave a sum of N2 billion as a bribe to some INEC staff to declare her as Governor-elect.
Binani is a statement on Tuesday said “I NEVER DID, I would never do such.
The said statement, Binani claimed, was allegedly made when the REC who forcefully declared her winner of the election was being tortured at gunpoint by suspected agents of the Adamawa State Governor and the Government House police team alongside their political thugs.
“I wish to reiterate that I am a democrat, I have always been a committed democrat and will never do anything to subvert democratic process. I am not a do-or-die politician. In the past I have won elections into the House of Representatives and the Senate in a free and fair manner.
“What happened in Adamawa was an unsuccessful attempt to subvert the will of the people. The REC was illegally told to stand down by two INEC national commissioners from Abuja who were supposed to be in Adamawa in a supervisory capacity. Even more curious, was the nocturnal visit of some INEC national officers to Adamawa State Government house, and the bizarre declaration the same day after the visit that they have taken over the collation through the backdoor, with the Collation and Returning Officers selected by the Governor of Adamawa.
“The role of these INEC officers from Abuja, and the real mission of the two officers to the Government House should be of interest to all democrats.
“I urge all lovers of democracy to take a deeper interest in our electoral process and democracy not only in Adamawa but in the whole country.
“Meanwhile to all my supporters both within and outside Adamawa, I wish to use this opportunity to thank you for your unflinching support, in the midst of half-truths and smear propaganda by the opposition” she concluded.
