PDP govs demand Adamawa REC’s trial, Binani sues INEC

Candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Aishatu Dahiru, popularly known as Binani Monday filed a suit  seeking an order to prevent INEC and its agents from taking any further steps towards the declaration of the winner of the election pending the determination of her court case.

Yunusa-Ari had announced Binani as the winner of the supplementary polls while the collation of the results was underway, causing confusion in the state and drawing consternation across the country.

But the INEC nullified the pronouncement and also summoned the REC who usurped the duties of the returning officer and other officials to Abuja.

However, the embattled REC and his colleagues could not appear before a committee of the commission in Abuja on Monday due to the ongoing strike by aviation workers which grounded airport operations nationwide.

All the INEC national commissioners who would constitute the committee members were also affected by the aviation strike as they could not get return flights to Abuja.

But Oriaran-Anthony in her letter to Yunusa-Ari dated April 17, 2023, explained that the administrative secretary of the commission in Adamawa State had been directed to take charge of the INEC office in the state.

In the meantime, Fintiri’s supporters on Monday took to the streets demanding the collation of the supplementary election results and conclusion of the process without further delay.

The protesters who turned out in their thousands were led by prominent PDP stakeholders.

They marched from the party’s office located at the police roundabout to the INEC headquarters.

The demonstrators were restrained from destroying the billboards bearing the images of Binani and the President-elect, Bola Tinubu by the Deputy Director-General of the PDP Presidential and Governorship Campaign Council, Felix Tangwami.

He called for decorum, noting that the protest would continue until the electoral commission yielded to their demand by concluding the collation process and announcing Fintiri as the winner.

Against the backdrop of the Adamawa incident, governors elected on the platform of the PDP have called for an overhaul of the appointment process of resident electoral commissioners.

In a statement signed by the Director-General of the PDP Governors Forum, Cyril Maduabum, the governors called on the returning officer, Mele, to immediately conclude the process and declare the result.

The statement read in part, “There should be a deliberate process of revisiting the appointments of national and resident electoral commissioners to weed out corrupt and extremely partisan officials. It is the partisan method of appointment of these officials that led to the national disgrace in Adamawa State.

“The attempted electoral heist and brigandage perpetrated by the Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Barrister Hudu Yunusa, is perhaps the lowest point of the 2023 general elections.

“We commend the immediate steps taken by the INEC as an institution to recover its battered image by nullifying the attempted coup and suspending the REC.

“The appropriate returning officer, Mohammed Mele, should immediately conclude the collation and declare the result.”

The forum demanded appropriate sanctions, including the swift prosecution of all those involved, especially Yunusa-Ari, to serve as an example to others.

Binani seeks review

In a related development,  Binani he has filed a motion ex parte before the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking the leave of the court for a judicial review of the administrative decision of the INEC in respect of her declaration as winner of the governorship elections held on March 18 and the supplementary elections of April 15th.

Binani 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.