The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winner of the governorship election in Adamawa State.
Fintiri is re-elected for a second term in office.
In last Saturday’s governorship supplementary election, the governor polled 9,337 votes to defeat Senator Aishatu Binani of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who garnered 6,513 votes.
At the end of the entire exercise, the Returning Officer for the election, Prof. Muhammadu Mele, on Tuesday, April 18, declared that Fintiri polled 430,861 votes, defeating Binani’s 398,788 votes.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for the election, Hudu Yunusa-Ari, had declared Binani as the winner while the collation of results was still ongoing at the INEC collation centre in Yola on Sunday, April 16.
Yunusa-Ari, who said the APC candidate scored the highest number of votes, did not provide the data or the results with which she won the election.
The election results from 10 out of the 20 Local Government Areas of Adamawa State was declared by the REC before he adjourned the exercise till 11 a.m.
The Returning Officer for the gubernatorial election was not present when Yunusa-Ari announced the APC candidate as the winner of the poll.
The INEC headquarters, however, declared his action null and void and suspended the result collation process.
The commission also directed the REC and others involved in the action to report to the electoral umpire’s headquarters in Abuja.
INEC, on Monday, directed Yunusa-Ari to immediately stay away from the state office until further notice.
The commission also ordered its administrative secretary in Adamawa State to take charge of the state office with immediate effect.
However, the electoral umpire, on Tuesday, declared his readiness to write to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Usman Baba, for the immediate investigation and possible prosecution of Yunusa-Ari over the declaration of Senator Binani as winner of the governorship election in Adamawa State.
