18th December, 2023
The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Monday affirmed the victory of Ahmadu Fintiri of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the March 18 Adamawa State Governorship election.
The appellate court dismissed the petition filed against the declaration of Fintiri as the winner of the election by the candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC Aishatu Binani.
The Court in a judgment prepared by Justice Tunde Awotoye and read by Justice Ebiowei Tobi said the petition of the APC candidate lacked merit.
It also awarded the cost of N500,000 in favour of Fintiri and the PDP against Binani while condemning the premature announcement of the election result by the Adamawa Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Hudu Ari.
The Court said the announcement of Binani as the winner of the election by the Resident Electoral Commissioner was illegal and against the procedure prescribed for the announcement of the election results.
The Court noted that only the Returning Officer has such power.
The Appeal Court judgment affirmed the October 28 decision of the Adamawa governorship election petition tribunal affirming the re-election of Fintiri as governor of the state.
The three-member panel had dismissed the petition filed by Aisha ‘Binani’ Dahiru, to nullify the victory of Fintiri over allegations that the election was marred by vote buying, thuggery, and over-voting.
Adamawa’s governorship election became controversial after Hudu Yunusa-Ari, who was later suspended, declared Binani as the winner of the election before the collation of the supplementary poll ordered by INEC.
Yunusa-Ari declared Binani as the election winner in the absence of the returning officer.
However, INEC dismissed the announcement and summoned the REC to its headquarters in Abuja.
Fintiri was declared the winner of the election with 430,861 votes to Binani’s 398,788 votes at the end of the collation.