The Supreme Court has affirmed the election of Ahmadu Fintiri as the Governor of Adamawa State.
The apex court’s judgement on Wednesday dismissed the appeal of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate in the March 18 governorship election, Aisha Dahiru, who is popularly known as Binani, against the governor.
It can be recalled that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Fintiri the winner of the March 18 poll and the subsequent supplementary election, which was held on April 16, 2023.
Dissatisfied with the result of the INEC, Binani and the APC, together with the candidate of the Social Democratic Party, Umar Ardo, had dragged Fintiri to the Adamawa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.
In its judgement, the tribunal dismissed the petition of Binani and that of the candidate of the SDP for lacking merit.
Still not satisfied, the opposition headed for the appeal court seeking to sack Finitri from office.
However, in line with the decision of the tribunal, the appellate court dismissed their appeals because they lacked merit.
The duo of Binani and Ardo then relentlessly took their appeals to the Supreme Court.
In their appeals, they prayed to the apex court to sack the governor because he was not the winner of the election.
Delivering judgement on Wednesday, the judge, John Okoro, in line with the judgement of the lower courts, also held that the appeal by the opposition lacked merit.
Speaking on the announcement of the result by the Adamawa Resident Electoral Commissioner, Hudu Ari, who declared Binani as the winner of the election before the official result from the Commission’s Returning Officer for Adamawa, who announced Fintiri as the Governor, the court said it strongly condemned such an act as irresponsible and criminal.
The judge further stated that the power to announce an election result lies exclusively with the returning officer, not the REC.
News About Nigeria reports that Ari is currently in custody over his failure to abide by the electoral rules and guidelines.
