The gubernatorial candidates of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) in Adamawa State, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri and Aishati Binana respectively will likely know their fate on Tuesday following Saturday’s supplementary election held in the state.
Recall that the electoral umpire on Sunday unnecessarily suspended collation of results of the exercise in the state after the state Resident Electoral Commissioner(REC), Barrister Hudu Yunusa hastily announced the APC candidate as the winner of the governorship election in the state while collation was still ongoing and Fintiri leading in the votes so far counted.
The REC’s decision has been described as illegal, ultra vires and an usurpation of duties by Barrister Festus Okoye, INEC’s National Commissioner in charge of Voter Education.
Okoye explained that all National Commissioners who are currently out to supervise the supplementary elections in the various states need to get back to Abuja as soon as possible for the commission to meet.
He said “You can see that most of the National Commissioners are out. Some are in Kebbi, Zamfara, Rivers and Adamawa states. We need to get them back to base.
“Hopefully, they will be back to base by tomorrow (Monday). There is the possibility that the commission will meet on Tuesday to take a decision that will be befitting of our electoral process, our democracy and everything we stand for.
“The situation on ground is that we have suspended further collation of results in Adamawa State and we have summoned the Resident Electoral Commissioner, who illegally went and made a declaration, to Abuja.
“He knows that part of his function has nothing to do with making declarations and making returns.
“The Resident Electoral Commissioner is a representative of the Commission in the state and exercises the powers delegated to him. He is supposed to perform only those functions that are delegated to him by the commission and is answerable to the commission.
“Being a collation and returning officer was not part of the functions he was supposed to perform. So, he has to come and explain to our commission.
“The Returning Officer appointed by the commission for Adamawa State has also been summoned to Abuja and he is already in Abuja. The collation of results is suspended pending when the commission will meet to deliberate on what has happened”.
