Victor Ezeja
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Governor Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), winner of the Adamawa on governorship election.
The declaration followed resumption of the collation of election results on Tuesday from Saturday’s supplementary poll.
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The Commission had suspended collation after the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Barr. Hudu Yunusa Ari, declared the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Aisha Dahiru, popularly called Binani as winner when according to INEC, collation of results had not been concluded.
The action elicited protests by PDP members and supporters of Fintiri. INEC overruled the declaration, pointing out that he (Ari) usurped the powers of the Returning Officer, appointed to do that coupled with the fact that the collation was yet to be concluded.
READ ALSO: Confusion in Adamawa Over REC’s Declaration Of APC’s Binani As Governor-elect
According to the result announced by INEC’s Returning Officer for the election Prof Mohammed Mele, Fintiri scored 430,821 votes to defeat Aisha Binani, of the APC, who scored 396,788.
Declaring the winner, the returning officer, a Professor of English and Linguistics from the University of Maiduguri, said: Umaru Ahmadu Fintiri having satisfied the requirements of the law is hereby declared the winner and returned elected.”
Fintiri was first elected on the platform of the PDP in 2019 elections.
Commenting on his victory, Fintiri in a tweet on evening said: “Alhamdulillah, victory to the people of Adamawa state! I still remain a governor for all. No one will be left behind and nothing will be left untouched.”
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with seven years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Master's degree in Mass Communication.
