Senator Aishat Dahiru Binani, the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in the last gubernatorial election in Adamawa State, has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of thwarting her petition against the declaration of Adamu Fintri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the poll.
Binani claimed that the electoral body is currently making desperate efforts to arrest and detain the suspended Resident Electoral Commissioner, Barrister Hudu Yunusa Ari, in order to prevent him from testifying for her at the ongoing Adamawa State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal.
Alhaji Mustapha Umar Madawaki, the APC Returning Officer at the Mach 18 governorship election and the re-run on April 15, addressed a press conference in Abuja on Saturday on behalf of Binani, urging well-meaning Nigerians to petition INEC to allow the APC candidate to reclaim her mandate obtained from the poll.
Madawaki, who claimed that INEC was conspiring with the state government and anti-Binani forces to thwart the petition’s diligent prosecution, claimed that INEC wanted the suspended REC apprehended and kept out of circulation in order to make him unavailable as a witness for the governorship candidate.
The APC Returning Officer claimed that at the point of collation of results, INEC suddenly allowed its trained ad-hoc workers to be changed and unlawfully and mysteriously substituted by another group of untrained staff who were not meant for collation.
He said that the illegal substitution of ad hoc workers resulted in election results that differed from those presented by legitimate workers.
“To my mind, that is one of the major reasons INEC is working overtime to prevent the former Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Barrister Hudu Yunusa Ari, from testifying before the Adamawa State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal,” he stated.
“They are afraid of what he will reveal.” Their eagerness is so obvious that Justice A.O Manji was forced to directly ask the INEC counsel about why they are so eager to arrest Hudu Yunusa Ari despite a clear court order against it.
“In my opinion, this is the same reason that the Force Headquarters, under the former Inspector General of Police IGP, shot itself in the foot by doctoring the earlier investigative report into the Adamawa elections, which found no indictable offence against Barrister Hudu Yunusa Ari, to another one they could use to quickly arrest and incarcerate him.”
“We have both the original and doctored investigative reports at our disposal.” We are conscious that these are significant charges and, as a result, have refrained from commenting further on some of the issues because they are before the Adamawa State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal.”
Madawaki, who branded Senator Binani as a victim of gender discrimination in her governorship ambition, stated that Embassies and Diplomatic Missions would be supported in the effort to reclaim the governorship candidate’s alleged stolen mandate.
