After a series of political controversies and drama, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri has been declared the winner of the Adamawa State Gubernatorial supplementary election. During the rerun held last Saturday, Fintiri, who ran under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), garnered 9,337 votes, defeating All Progressives Congress (APC) Senator Aishatu ‘Binani’ Dahiru, who got 6,513 votes.
At the end of the exercise, Fintiri secured 430,861 votes, while Binani received 398,738 votes. The announcement was made by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) around 6 pm on Tuesday, but it was preceded by a series of political intrigues.
Before the supplementary election, INEC had declared the initial governorship election inconclusive, leading to the scheduling of the supplementary election. However, during the collation of votes on Sunday, the state’s Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Hudu Yunusa Ari, erroneously announced Binani as the winner, violating the provisions of the Electoral Act. Section 25 of the Electoral Act, 2022, only authorizes the returning officer to announce the results and declare the winner of an election at the state collation centre in the case of the governorship election.
Despite the official announcement of a winner, political controversies are expected to continue, as Binani has taken legal action, arguing that Hudu Yunusa Ari’s initial declaration should stand.
