Tribunal affirms Fintiri’s election as Adamawa governor

The Adamawa State Governorship Election Tribunal has affirmed the election of Umaru Fintiri as the governor of Adamawa State in the March 2023 governorship election.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had declared Mr Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP winner after polling 430,861 votes and defeating Aisha ‘Binani’ Dahiru of the All Progressives Congress, APC, who got 398,738 votes.

Mrs Dahiru and some other contestants had approached the tribunal seeking the nullification of Mr Fintiri’s victory.

Delivering judgement on Saturday, the tribunal upheld the victory of the incumbent governor.

Recall that the then Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, in Adamawa State, Hudu Yunusa-Ari, had usurped the powers of the returning officer to declare Mrs Dahiru as the winner of the poll while the collation of results was ongoing.

The situation prompted INEC to nullify Mr Yunusa-Ari’s decision and suspended him while then President Muhammadu Buhari ordered a full investigation on the electoral commissioner and the security personnel that were around him when he made the declaration.

INEC thereafter concluded the collation of the results and announced Mr Fintiri as the authentic winner of the election.

Related