Fintiri defeats Binani to win drama-filled Adamawa governorship election

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared Ahmadu Fintiri, governor of Adamawa, as the winner of the state governorship election.

Mele Lamido, the returning officer for the election, declared Fintiri as the winner after the collation of the supplementary election results.

The final results showed that Aisha ‘Binani’ Dahiru, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), scored 398,788 votes, while Fintiri, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had 430,861 votes to win the poll.

BACKGROUND

On March 20, INEC declared the March 18 Adamawa governorship election as inconclusive.

The collation officer had announced that Fintiri scored 421,524 votes while Binani polled 390, 275 votes.

He said the margin between the two top candidates was less than the total number of potential voters — 37,016 — in 69 polling units where elections were cancelled.

After the election was declared inconclusive, INEC fixed April 15 for the conduct of the supplementary election.

On April 15, the supplementary election was conducted in Adamawa.

However, controversy ensued at the collation of the supplementary election results after Hudu Yunusa-Ari, the resident electoral commissioner (REC) in the state declared Binani the winner of the election.

The collation officer was not present when Yunusa-Ari announced Binani as the winner of the election.

Lamido is empowered by law to declare the winner of the election.

The action of the REC sparked controversy as INEC suspended the collation exercise and asked Yunusa-Ari to stay away from the office.