Moses Ofodeme
Public anger is raging after the Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Hudu Yunusa-Ari, made a pronouncement declaring Aisha Binani winner of the Adamawa State gubernatorial election.
Former Power Sector Minister Olu Agunloye, while reacting to the announcement said, “This is yet another pointer to the fact that INEC is a poorly established institution that carries “independence” that takes it away from orderliness and discipline.
Agunloye further said, “It is time to inspect the (defective) structure of INEC more closely.
*INEC’s Reaction*
_“The attention of the Commission has been drawn to a purported declaration of winner in the Adamawa Governorship election by the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) even when the process has clearly not been concluded. The action of the REC is a usurpation of the power of the Returning Officer. It is null, void and of no effect.”_ – INEC’s Spokesman
*Prince Adebayo’s Reaction*
_‘The rate at which @inecnigeria is melting down as an institution is a serious cause for concern. It is treasonable and unreasonable for the REC to announce @realaishabinani or anyone as elected Governor without any legal role in the election. Voters, not coup d’etat, choose leaders’_ – Prince Adewole Adebayo
•Atiku, Fintiri, PDP kick, Adamawa APC hails Binani as supporters jubilate
Opposition parties and non-governmental organisations on Sunday took a swipe at the Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Hudu Yunusa-Ari, for usurping the duties of the state governorship election returning officer, reported the Punch.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had at 1 am on Sunday shifted the announcement of the state supplementary election results to 11 am after results from 11 out of 20 local government areas where reruns were held had been declared.
But before 11 am, the REC at 9 am came to the state INEC office in Yola, where the results were being collated and announced the All Progressives Congress candidate, Senator Aishatu Dahiru, popularly known as Binani as the winner of the governorship election.
Prior to her declaration, Binani was trailing behind Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party, who had established a margin of lead of 31,249 votes.
Before the supplementary poll, Fintiri polled 421, 524 votes ahead of Binani who got 390, 275 votes.
However, Fintiri could not be declared the winner of the March 18 governorship election by the state by the state returning officer, Professor Mohammed Mele, of the Department of English and Linguistics, University of Maiduguri, because the margin of lead did not exceed the number of cancelled votes in 69 polling units.
The Commission on Sunday halted announcement of results in Adamawa’s state governor election and said the declaration of Aisha Dahiru as the country’s first elected female state governor was null and void.
Nigerians voted for state governors on March 11 but the election in Adamawa, a largely conservative Muslim state, was inconclusive and supplementary voting was held on Saturday in 69 polling units where a little more than 36,000 voters were registered.
Dahiru, the ruling All Progressive Congress party’s candidate, has been held up as a pioneer who could pave the way for more women to seek political office in Nigeria.
She had been declared as the winner on Sunday by the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) resident electoral commissioner with half of the districts yet to announce their results.