Adamawa Rerun Poll: Time Ticks For Fintiri, Binani

As the governorship supplementary elections in Adamawa State inches closer, Governor Umar Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Senator Aishatu Ahmed Binani of the All Progressives Congress (APC) left with about 24 hours to know their fate in the poll that was declared inconclusive last month.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had on March 19 declared the Adamawa state governorship election as inconclusive.

INEC took the decision while the APC and the PDP whose candidates are the major contenders in the election were trading blames with the PDP accusing INEC and the APC of attempts to alter the results to favour the latter.

In the governorship poll, Senator Aishatu Dahiru popularly known as Binani scored 390, 275, while the incumbent, Governor Fintiri, polled 421,524.

Returning Officer, Prof Muhammed Mele of the University of Maiduguri, Borno State, had rejected the manual result sheet from the Fufore local government area (LGA) of the state.

While the APC scored 26,329 and the PDP polled 21,721 in the result sheet, the INEC’s Result Viewing Portal (IReV) showed that the APC got 24,777 votes, and the PDP 20, 777.

But the collation officials rejected the results as declared by the local government returning officer and accepted that of the IReV as authentic one.

They said the results as declared by the Fufore returning officer did not tally with that on the IREV portal.

Meanwhile, party officials and stakeholders in Adamawa State yesterday expressed readiness to ensure peaceful conduct of the governorship supplementary elections billed for tomorrow.

During stakeholders’ engagement with officials of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) the party candidates unanimously agreed for peaceful conduct of the election.

Awal Tukur, the director-general, Fintiri campaign Council, at a press conference, expressed confidence that the PDP candidate would win the supplementary elections.

But APC’s publicity secretary, Mohammed Abdullahi, said Senator Aishatu Dahiru Binani is hopeful of winning the polls.

Earlier, INEC’s resident electoral commissioner in the state, Barrister Yunusa Hudu Ari, assured that the governorship and state constituency supplementary elections would be conducted fair and credible.

The REC said the supplementary elections would hold in 69 polling units with a total number of registered voters of 42,785, while PVCs collected in the PUs are 32,935 across 20 LGAs in the state.

“For the state constituency elections, you are aware four state constituencies were involved: Girei, Gombi, Numan and Toungo”.

“In Girei, 7 PUs are involved with a total number of 5,413 registered voters as well as 5,035 PVCs collection. In Gombi, 5 PUs are involved, with a total number of 2,961 registered voters and PVC collected stands at 2947.

“In Numan, 14 PUs are involved, with 7,805 registered voters and 7,357 PVC collections. Toungo had three (3) PUs with a total number of 1,941 registered votes and 972 PVC collected.”

Ari urged leaders of political parties to call their supporters to order for the commission to achieve acceptable elections.

He warned party agents and thugs against causing unrest, assuring trouble makers of security readiness to arrest anyone found wanting during and after the support polls.

In Kebbi State, INEC has also assured that the supplementary elections for governorship, national and state assemblies would hold as scheduled for tomorrow in the polling units approved in the 20 out of the 21 local government areas of the state by the commission.

The commission however did not officially mention the number of polling units where the re-run elections will hold.

Sources from the office of the director, Voter Education, of the commission who gave the assurance on condition of anonymity yesterday in Birnin Kebbi also noted that INEC would conduct the Supplementary Polls tomorrow, as it received a directive to that effect from the national headquarters.

According to the source, the commission will distribute Sensitive and non-sensitive materials to all designated polling units where the re-run will be held across the 20 local government areas today.

When contacted, the director-general of the PDP gubernatorial campaign Council, Abubakar Shehu Geda, said the party is ready just like the INEC said it was ready to conduct the supplementary elections in Kebbi and Adamawa States.

“So, we in Kebbi State are waiting to hear the list of designated polling units where the re-run elections will hold in the 20 out of the 21 local government areas of the state,” Geda said.

Also, the publicity secretary of APC in the state, Isah Assalafi, said all is set by the party to participate fully in the scheduled rerun poll in the state.