Court Upholds Gov Fintiri’s Election

Following the dismissal of Aishatu Binani’s (All Progressives Congress) petition as meritless, the Court of Appeal in Abuja upheld Ahmadu Fintiri of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as the governor of Adamawa State.

In the ruling authored by Justice Tunde Awotoye and delivered by Justice Ebiowei Tobi on Monday, the Appellate Court granted Fintiri and the PDP N500,000 in costs against Binani.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Hudu Ari, hastily announced the election results, which the Appellate Court disapproved of. It further stated that Binani’s petition was beset by multiple issues.

The Court made it very clear that the Resident Electoral Commissioner’s declaration of Binani as the winner was unlawful and beyond the scope of the law, as only the Returning Officer possesses this authority.

This ruling upheld the Tribunal’s October 28 ruling that denied Binani’s petition, citing her inability to provide documentation supporting her claim that she voted too many votes and invalidating the election’s result.

Following state gubernatorial election, the final results showed that Binani pulled a total of 398,788 votes, while Fintiri had 430,861 votes.

 Binani had approached the court with a petition seeking to nullify Fintiri’s election, alleging that it was marred by alleged vote buying, thuggery, and over-voting.

Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the Adamawa governorship election inconclusive on March 20.

After the election was declared inconclusive, INEC fixed April 15 for the conduct of the supplementary election.