Victor Ezeja
Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Adamawa State governorship election, Aisha Dahiru, popularly called Binani, has filed an action at the Federal High Court, Abuja over the declaration of the election results.
Prime Business Africa reports that Binani joined the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate in the election, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, as 1st, 2nd and 3rd respondents respectively.
In the application which is set to be heard on Tuesday, Binani is seeking an order of the court to stop INEC from reversing the declaration of her as the winner of the election as done by the Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Barr. Hudu Yunusa Ari, on Sunday, 16th April, a day after the supplementary polls held in the state.
Meanwhile, INEC had on Monday in a letter signed by its Secretary, Rose Oriaran-Anthony, ordered the REC to stay away from the Commission’s office in the State until further notice.
READ MORE: Stay Away For Now, INEC Tells Controversial Adamawa REC
Yunusa-Ari had announced Binani as the winner of the supplementary polls while the collation of the results was underway, causing confusion.
INEC had while reversing the declaration, said in a statement on Sunday that Ari’s action amounted to usurpation of the power of the collation officer appointed by the Commission to do the job.
Before the declaration, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of the PDP was leading with a margin of 31,249 votes, having scored 421, 524 votes ahead of Binani who polled 390, 275 votes.
Binani, through her lawyer, Hussaini Zakariyau, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, sought a judicial review of the administrative decision of INEC on 16 April in respect of her declaration as the winner of the governorship elections held on 18 March and the supplementary poll of April 15.
She is also seeking an order of prohibition and certiorari preventing INEC and its agents from taking any further steps towards the declaration of the winner of the elections pending the determination of her application for judicial review.
The application was brought pursuant to Order 34 Rules 1a, Order 3(1) & 3(2) a, b, c, Order 6 of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure Rules), 2019 and Section 251 (1)q & r of the 1999 Constitution, as well as Section 149 & 152 of the Electoral Act, 2022.
Giving grounds for the Binani claimed that INEC had after collation of results, declared her as winner of the election but the PDP candidate and his supporters caused chaos in the state which made the electoral body cancel the initial declaration.
She further argued that INEC had no power to reverse the declaration, adding that only the election petition tribunal is vested with such powers.
Meanwhile, PDP members and Fintiri’s supporters on Monday staged a protest in Adamawa, giving INEC 72-hour ultimatum to conclude the collation of results and declare Fintiri as the winner of the election.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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