Controversy as REC declares APC’s Binani winner of Adamawa guber poll

Yunusa Ari, the resident electoral commissioner of the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Adamawa, has stoked
controversy in the state’s governorship election.

Around 9am on Sunday morning, the INEC REC announced Aisha
‘Binani’ Dahiru, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the
winner of the election.

His announcement elicited protests from members of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) present at the state collation centre in Yola.

Before the collation exercise was suspended on Saturday
night, results from 10 LGAs had been announced — and Binani was trailing Ahmadu
Fintiri, the incumbent governor and PDP candidate.

The collation of results from the remaining 10 LGAs was
expected to commence by 11am on Sunday.

Mele Lamido, the returning officer for the Adamawa
governorship election, was not present when Ari announced Binani as the winner
of the election.

Lamido is empowered by law to declare the winner of the
election.

Yiaga Africa, a civil society organisation, has described
the declaration as illegal, saying it is against the guidelines of the
Electoral Act.

“We’ve received reports of an illegal declaration of results
by the @inecnigeria REC for #Adamawa in violation of S 64 & 65 Electoral
Act 2022 & Part 3, INEC guidelines which vests the power to declare results
solely on a Returning officer appointed by INEC,” Yiaga Africa said.

“We call on @inecnigeria to nullify the illegal declaration,
suspend the REC for Adamawa state and take urgent actions to protect the
integrity of the process.”