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Pandemonium has broken out in Adamawa State following the declaration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed, popularly known as Binani, as the winner of the governorship election in the state.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conducted a supplementary election in Adamawa State on Saturday, April 15, 2023, to determine the winner after the initial poll of March 18 was declared inconclusive following the cancellation of results in polling units where there was over-voting.
Prior to the election being declared inconclusive, the incumbent governor and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Ahmadu Fintiri, had taken a clear lead after polling a total of 421,524 votes as against 390,275 votes recorded by his closest challenger, Binani.
Fintiri went into the supplementary election with a healthy margin of 31,249 votes and saw his lead widen after recording 4,085 votes from 10 out of the 69 polling units results announced on Saturday while the APC candidate only added 3,128 votes to her tally.
The state Returning Officer, Prof. Mohammed Mele, had suspended the collation of results till 11am on Sunday. However, in the most bizarre and illegal manner, the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Barrister Hudu Yunusa, sneaked into the collation centre around 9am on Sunday and declared Binani the winner of the election.
Accompanied by the state Commissioner of Police and Department of State Services (DSS) operatives, Yunusa read a prepared speech announcing the APC candidate returned elected despite results from the remaining polling units yet to be officially announced.
The REC made the declaration when most party agents, election observers, and journalists were not on ground. However, footage of the moments shortly after his declaration showed Yunusa being confronted by some men believed to be party agents.
Things were getting a bit heated as one of the livid men attempted to grab Yunusa's cloth as he remonstrated against his action, but the REC was quickly ushered out of the collation centre by security men.
The REC's action was a direct contravention of Sections 64 and 65 of the Electoral Act 2022 and Part 3 of the INEC guidelines which vests the power to declare results solely on a Returning Officer appointed by INEC.
A TVC correspondent in Adamawa reported that soldiers have been deployed on the streets of the North East state to forestall a breakdown of law and order in the aftermath of the bizarre development.
As of the time of filing this report, collation has not resumed as promised by the Returning Officer.