Gov. Ahmadu Fintiri was proclaimed the victor of the state governorship race on Tuesday by the returning officer for the Adamawa State election, Prof. Mohammed Mele.

With 430,861 votes, Fintiri won a second term in office, defeating Aisha Dahiru, also known as Binani, of the All Progressives Congress, who received 398,788 votes.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Independent National Electoral Commission declared that it had asked Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, to alert “the appointing authority” to Hudu Yunusa-conduct Ari’s as the state’s resident electoral commissioner.

48 hours after Binani’s contentious election as governor-elect by Yunusa-Ari, Fintiri won.

In the first round of the election held on March 18, Binani was behind Fintiri by more than 31, 000 votes.

The margin of lead in 69 polling units with 37, 016 voters did not exceed the number of votes that were invalidated, hence the electoral agency judged the election to be inconclusive.

As the REC assumed control of the returning officer role for the April 15 supplemental election and declared the APC candidate the victor, a commotion ensued.

The REC and his coworkers in the Adamawa State office were then summoned to Abuja by INEC, who promptly ruled his action void.

Yunusa-Ari was further prohibited from entering the office by the commission in a letter from the Secretary to the Commission, Rose Oriaran-Anthony, who also gave the Administrative Secretary the go-ahead to take over management of the INEC office in the state.

The worried citizens of the state celebrated wildly when Mele announced Fintiri as the election winner at the resumed results collation on Tuesday.

Festus Okoye, National Commissioner for INEC and Chairperson of the Information and Voter Education Committee, was present when the event took place.

“Ahmadu Fintiri, having satisfied the condition of the law, is hereby returned duly re-elected,” the returning officer declared upon declaring the winner.

2,196,566 people were registered to vote in total, while 876,387 people were accredited to vote.

The returning officer reported that 869,106 votes were cast in total, of which 853,819 were valid and 15,287 were rejected.

Yunusa-behavior

The electoral umpire updated the group’s management on Yunusa-unethical Ari’s behavior following a meeting with Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC Chairman, and national commissioners on Tuesday in Abuja. The electoral umpire asked the SGF to alert “the appointing authority” to the REC’s unethical behavior for further action.

According to the constitution, the term “appointing authority” refers to the President, who is authorized under section 154 (1) of the 1999 Constitution to nominate INEC commissioners.

In accordance with the provisions of this Constitution, the section states that: “Except in the case of ex officio members or where other provisions are made in this Constitution, the chairman and members of any of the bodies so established shall be appointed by the President and subject to the provisions of this Constitution.”

In accordance with section 6(3) of the Electoral Act of 2022, the President may only act on an address by a two-thirds majority of the Senate to remove a REC.

The commission decided to: “In its meeting today, April 18, 2023, the commission discussed concerns arising from the Adamawa governorship election and announced the following decisions:

“Letter to the Inspector General of Police requesting an immediate inquiry and potential prosecution of Barrister Hudu Yunusa-Ari, the resident electoral commissioner for Adamawa State.

“Request the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to draw the attention of the appointing authority to the unwholesome behaviour of the REC for further action.

 “The collation process shall resume at a time to be determined by the returning officer.’’

In accordance with the INEC resolution, the Nigerian Police Force has committed to working with the electoral commission to investigate the events at the Adamawa collation center. The Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, stated in response to a question from our correspondent on Tuesday that the police had not yet received the letter from INEC but that they will work with the electoral umpire to look into the situation. He added that the IGP had directed that the CP in charge of Gombe State, Etim Equa, immediately travel to Adamawa and that the CP on election duty in Adamawa State, Mohammed Barde, be promptly redeployed from the state.

 Adejobi said, “We have not received any letter (from INEC), but we will carry out a thorough investigation on the Adamawa incident in collaboration with the INEC. So, if INEC sends in any letter, we will treat it as recommended as well.

 “Also, the IGP has ordered the redeployment of the CP-election, Adamawa, and replaced him with CP Gombe, Etim Oqua, who has been directed to proceed to Yola immediately for the conclusion of the guber election process in Adamawa.  We are committed to having a more secure and successful process in Adamawa.”