The declaration of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) candidate and incumbent governor, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri as winner of the controversial Adamawa state governorship election has elicited divergent reactions from party faithfuls and Nigerians at large.
The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr Festus Keyamo (SAN), who stoked the fire on his Twitter handle, noted that “Anytime the opposition wins, whether on the field or in the courts, it is justice! Anytime the ruling party wins, whether on the field or in the courts, it is injustice! Hypocrites with double standards everywhere!”
While reacting to Finitri’s declaration, the 2023 presidential Candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar while congratulating the governor on his re-election, vowed to reclaimed his stolen mandate at the presidential level.
His words: “Congratulations, Gov Ahmadu Fintiri, on your deserved re-election as governor of Adamawa State. Thank you to the people of Adamawa and men and women of goodwill for staying the course in resisting coupists and enemies of democracy from having their way.
“The lesson from this exercise and others is the need for Nigerians to be vigilant and never give in to anti-democratic forces whose objective is to snatch, run with and undermine the mandate of the people as freely expressed in their votes.
“By the way, it is not yet uhuru as we still have one more major mandate to reclaim, and together as ONE, we shall accomplish the task for the good of our country and its people.”
In same vein, Oyo State Governor, Engr. Seyi Mankide said, “Hearty congratulations to my brother, @GovernorAUF on his successful re-election bid. As I stated when I visited him, I believed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would do the right thing, and I am glad that they have upheld the will of the people of Adamawa State.”
It would be recalled that on March 20, INEC, declared the March 18 Adamawa governorship election as inconclusive.
The collation officer had announced that Fintiri scored 421,524 votes while Binani polled 390, 275 votes.
He said the margin between the two top candidates was less than the total number of potential voters — 37,016 — in 69 polling units where elections were cancelled.
