INEC, has presented Certificate of Return (CoR) to the Adamawa state governor, Ahmadu Fintiri.
By Emma Ogbuehi
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has presented Certificate of Return (CoR) to the Adamawa state governor, Ahmadu Fintiri.
The presentation ceremony took place at the Commission’s headquarters, Abuja on Wednesday, April 19.
The presentation came on the heels of the controversies that almost stalemated his announcement as the governor-elect.
Recall that INEC, on Tuesday, declared Fintiri, as the winner of the state governorship election, with the governor declaring that the state, of Adamawa, was the real winner of the election.
Before the eventual declaration, the Resident Electoral Commissioner in the State, Hudu Yunusa-Ari, had announced the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the elction, Senator Aisha Binani Dahiru, as the winner even when the collation of results had not been completed. A stalemate almost ensued before INEC stepped in, annulled the announcement and suspended Yunusa-Ari.
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Fintiri’s eventual declaration by the electoral commission put paid to the controversies that had trailed the election since the first balloting on March 18, 2023.
Mele Lamido, the returning officer for the Adamawa governorship election, declared Fintiri as the winner after the collation of the supplementary election results.
The final results showed that Governor Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, scored 430,861 votes to beat Aisha Dahiru Ahmed (Binani) of the APC, who got 398,788 votes.
The returning officer also disclosed that the total votes cast were 869,106 while total valid votes were 853,819. Rejected votes were 15,287.
Before Fintiri’s declaration, the commission met, in Abuja, on the suspended election and resolved to write the Inspector General of Police, IGP Usman Baba Alkali, to investigate the Adamawa Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Mr Hudu Yunusa-Ari for possible prosecution.
It also resolved to write the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Mr Boss Mustapha, with a view to acquainting President Muhammadu Buhari with the “unwholesome” activities of the REC and possibly reviewing his appointment.
These came on a day the Inspector General of Police redeployed the Commissioner of Police in the state, Mohammed Barde, who was with the suspended REC when he announced Senator Aisha Dahiru Ahmed as the winner of the election, after breaching procedures.
Gov Fintiri in his address to newsmen after collecting the certificate, stated that his victory prepares him for a bigger burden.
