In Adamawa, the declaration of Senator Aisha Dahiru as the winner of the gubernatorial election, which should have made her the first democratically elected female Governor, has been voided.
The declaration, while counting was still on and Governor Fintiri was leading, by the Resident Electoral Commissioner rather than the Returning Officer was voided by the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Abuja
Mrs. Dahiru’s (also known as Binani) declaration by Prof. Hudu Yunus Ari, the Resident Electoral Commissioner of Adamawa, while results from only 10 out of the 20 local government areas had been declared, set off alarms.
PDP supporters in the hall protested the announcement by the REC instead of the returning officer, and one hour ahead of the scheduled time.
INEC voided the declaration in a statement by Barr. Festus Okoye, INEC’s National Commissioner in charge of Information and Voter Education on Sunday.
INEC in the statement on Twitter said: “The attention of the Commission has been drawn to a purported declaration of winner in the Adamawa Governorship election by the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) even when the process has clearly not been concluded.
“The action of the REC is a usurpation of the power of the Returning Officer. It is null, void and of no effect. Consequently, the collation of results of the supplementary election is hereby suspended.
“The REC, Returning Officer and all involved are hereby invited to the Commission’s Headquarters in Abuja immediately”.
In Sokoto, the INEC declared Gov. Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto state and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate as winner of Sokoto South Senatorial District.
The Returning Officer for the Sokoto South Senatorial District, Prof. Abubakar Bagudo, said Tambuwal scored 100, 860 to beat Sen. Ibrahim Danbaba of All Progressive Congress (APC) and others.
”Tambuwal having satisfied the requirements of law have been declared winner and returned elected,” Bagudo said.
For Sokoto North District, the incumbent, another former governor, Senator Aliyu Wamakko, was declared winner.
Wamakko polled 141,448 votes to defeat the candidate of the PDP, Muhammadu Dan’Iya, who scored 118,445 votes.
Meanwhile, the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has taken on INEC for trying to shortchange the will of Adamawa people.
The BoT in a statement by its Chairman, Senator Adolphus Wabara said: “With due respect to the Electoral Act 2022 and the INEC guidelines regarding the 2023 electoral process, Nigerians watched in dismay the display of disregard to the rule of law by the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Adamawa State, in person of Mr. Hudu Yunusa-Ari. Accompanied by Security Officials, and without following due process contained in the INEC guidelines and the Electoral Act, the REC took it on himself to assume responsibility for declaring results and hurriedly declared a winner in the Adamawa supplementary elections as results collation were still ongoing for 10 LGAs.
“So far, results from the collated 10 LGAs indicated that the PDP was still in clear lead over the closest contestant. This open disregard for the rule of law is a pointer that the Electoral Commission is compromised from within and Nigerians are expecting INEC to act justly as a neutral entity with respect to the supplementary elections taking place in Adamawa and other states in Nigeria.
With the plethora of controversies surrounding the general elections so far, we call upon INEC to ensure that the outcome of the supplementary elections is not added to the list of controversial elections conducted by the body.
“We also call upon members of our great party PDP to remain law abiding and calm as we continue to follow developments from the supplementary elections to ensure that the will of the people of Adamawa state is not thwarted by the few who have no regards for the law.
“We appreciate the media, local and international observers as they continue their jobs in ensuring that we have a Nigeria that is governed by true democratic tenets.”