Fintiri: I contested against enemies of democracy | They ganged up against me

Ahmadu Fintiri, governor of Adamawa, says he contested the gubernatorial election in the state against “enemies of democracy”.

Speaking on Tuesday in an interview with Channels Television after his victory, Fintiri said those against his reelection wanted a woman to become governor without considering his performance.

Earlier, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Fintiri as the winner of the governorship election.

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.

Prior to the final declaration on Tuesday, INEC had earlier declared the March 18 governorship election in the state inconclusive and fixed the supplementary election for April 15.

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.

Mele Lamido, the returning 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.

Reacting to the incident, the Adamawa governor vowed to prosecute those who engaged in “criminalities” during the governorship election.

“I don’t think I ran against any woman in Adamawa state. I ran against enemies of democracy outside Adamawa state,” he said.

“Their gang-up has not gotten anywhere. I gave God the glory. They decided to be enemies of democracy and the only scapegoat they can find is in Adamawa state.

“They wanted to put a woman from their party, forgetting that we have performed excellently well in this state.

“Our people love us. They voted for continuity of excellent, rural and urban development. They voted for human and capital development that we had laid a very good foundation for.

“Time will tell if these people will be properly prosecuted.

“But if they don’t prosecute these criminalities that took place in Adamawa state, I’m going to prosecute them.”