The controversy surrounding the Adamawa State governorship election seems to be dissipating by the day as the Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday dismissed a suit filed by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Aisha Dahiru Ahmed, also known as Binani against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), seeking her affirmation as
The controversy surrounding the Adamawa State governorship election seems to be dissipating by the day as the Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday dismissed a suit filed by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Aisha Dahiru Ahmed, also known as Binani against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), seeking her affirmation as the winner of the poll as pronounced by the State Resident Electoral Commission (REC) .
Justice Inyang Ekwo, the presiding judge of the court dismissed the suit after Mohammed Sheriff, Binani’s counsel, asked the court to strike out the suit. The judge held that the lawyer failed to address the court on the issue of jurisdiction as ordered on April 18. Binani had applied to withdraw the suit in a notice of discontinuance suit filed by her lawyer, Muhammed Sherif.
The controversy around the Adamawa state governorship elections began when the March 18th gubernatorial election was declared inconclusive in 69 polling units in some local governments due to reports of electoral violence and over-voting. The electoral commission later fixed the supplementary poll for April 15th, 2023.
After the voting, the electoral umpire started the collation process at the state collation centre. The state returning officer, Professor Mele Muhammoud, who also served as the state collation officer, suspended the process after the results from 10 local governments were announced.
The state’s Resident Electoral Commissioner, Hunus Yunusa Ari, nevertheless declared Binani as the winner of the election contrary to the Electoral Act and INEC guidelines, before the collation process was resumed and while results from some local governments’ were being awaited.
Upon her illegal declaration, Binani took to the federal high court, in Abuja to halt INEC from nullifying her pronouncement as the governor-elect in the state on the ground that the electoral commission lacks the power to do so.
More so, Mrs Aisha Dashiru, also known as Binani further applied for “leave of court allowing the applicants to apply for an order of prohibition and certiorari removing to this Court for the purpose of being set aside the administrative decision of the 1 respondent made on 16th April 2023 in respect of the declaration of the winner from the gubernatorial election of Adamawa State held on the 18th of March, 2023 and the supplementary election held on 15th April 2023”.
Subsequently, INEC national headquarters declared Yunus Ari’s declaration as null and void, on the ground that the REC’s action was usurping, maintaining that such a declaration was supposed to be made by the returning officer. As a result, the commission suspended Mr Yunusa Ari from the process and collation resumed.
The Returning Officer after collation declared the Peoples Democratic Party’s Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri the winner of the tense election and announced that it would prosecute the erring REC.
But, upon her illegal declaration, Binani rushed to the federal high court, in Abuja to seek validation and halt INEC from nullifying her pronouncement as the governor-elect in the state on the ground that the electoral commission lacks the power to do so.
More so, Mrs Aisha Dashiru, also known as Binani further applied for “leave of court allowing the applicants to apply for an order of prohibition and certiorari removing to this Court for the purpose of being set aside the administrative decision of the 1 respondent made on 16th April 2023 in respect of the declaration of the winner from the gubernatorial election of Adamawa State held on the 18th of March, 2023 and the supplementary election held on 15th April 2023”.
The APC candidate also noted that the electoral commission is legally empowered to declare her victory null, insisting that it is only the electoral tribunal that is vested with such legality.
She also accused her counterpart, Mr Fintiri, of stirring violence in the state after she was declared the winner of the poll, averring that an INEC official was also caught up in the violent attack.
But Justice Ekwo refused to hear the matter at the initial stage based on the issue of jurisdiction, in which the court ordered the complainant to address whether an Abuja court has jurisdiction to hear the matter..
Embattled REC Speaks From Hideout
Meanwhile, the embattled former Resident Electoral Commissioner of Adamawa State, Hudus Yunusa Ari who is reportedly fleeing from law enforcement agencies has written a letter to explain his actions pre and on the day of the supplementary election, to the director-general of the State Security Service (SSS), National Security Adviser (NSA), and the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The REC in his explanation for announcing Binani as the winner of the poll, accused two national commissioners of the electoral commission, Baba Bila and Abdullah Zuru, of secretly working with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to manipulate the outcome of the poll.
According to the letter, Mr Ari stated that the two national commissioners who were tasked with him planned to change the collation officers and to work with some terrorists to disrupt the voting process, adding that he was placed under house arrest before he was rescued by the police officers.
He further explained that he also discovered that some of the results on the IReV portal were full of discrepancies and that some of the uploaded results were not signed by him, making the process full of controversy.
Speaking on why he declared the APC candidate the winner of the poll, he explained that his action was based on the compiled results he had, stating that the results showed that Binani was the winner of the elections.
The suspended REC also insisted that his action was within the scope of the responsibility vested in him by law as the electoral commissioner.
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