The
governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Adamawa State,
Senator Aishat
Dahiru Binani, has accused the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) of obstructing her petition against the victory of Adamu
Fintri from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the election.
Binani
claimed that INEC is displaying bias and ignoring court orders in an attempt to
arrest and detain the suspended Resident Electoral Commissioner, Barrister Hudu
Yunusa Ari, to prevent him from testifying on her behalf at the ongoing Adamawa
State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal.
Speaking on
behalf of Senator Binani at a press conference in Abuja, Alhaji Mustapha Umar
Madawaki, the APC Returning Officer for the March 18 Governorship Election and
the re-run of April 15, urged well-meaning Nigerians to call for INEC to adhere
to proper procedures and allow the APC candidate to rightfully reclaim her
mandate obtained from the poll.
Madawaki
accused INEC of conspiring with the state government and anti-Binani forces to
hinder the fair prosecution of the petition, claiming that they want to keep
the suspended REC out of circulation to prevent him from serving as a witness
for the governorship candidate.
He alleged
that the election crisis began during the collation of results when INEC
allowed trained add-hoc workers to be replaced unlawfully and mysteriously by
another group of untrained staff not meant for collation. This resulted in
different election results being produced compared to the ones submitted by the
authentic workers.
According to
Madawaki, an agent of the state government submitted an unlawful ad-hoc staff
list, and INEC’s acceptance of this list showed bias in favor of the People’s
Democratic Party (PDP).
He further
revealed that INEC’s desperation to prevent Barrister Hudu Yunusa Ari from
testifying led to a questionable change in the investigative report on the
Adamawa elections by the former Inspector General of Police. The original
report found no wrongdoing against Barrister Hudu Yunusa Ari, but a doctored
report was used to justify his arrest.
Madawaki
also emphasized that Senator Binani is a victim of gender discrimination in her
governorship ambition, and Embassies and Diplomatic Missions would be informed
and involved in the fight to reclaim the alleged stolen mandate of the
governorship candidate.
