The All Progressives Congress (APC) and Senator Aisha Dahiru Binani, their candidate for governor, filed a suit with the Court of Appeal in Abuja on Monday, attempting to nullify Umar Ahmadu Fintiri’s election as the lawfully elected governor of Adamawa State.
The Adamawa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal duly declared Governor Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the victor of the election, according to the Appellate Court.
The lawsuit of Binani and APC was dismissed on several grounds of irregularities according to a ruling authored by Justice Tunde Oyebanji Awotoye.
The Appeal Court ruled, among other things, that Binani and the APC should have called campaign coordinators who weren’t present at the polling place instead of calling polling agents who took part in the election process as witnesses.
According to Justice Awotoye, the three campaign coordinator witnesses who were asked to testify about malpractices in 27 Local Government Areas are merely hearsay witnesses because they are not party agents.
The Court decided that since the testimony of the campaign coordinators is useless in the eyes of the law, it is illegal to attach probate values to it.
Furthermore, according to Justice Awotoye, Binani and the APC’s argument brief was incompetent and should be disregarded since it broke the law.
Furthermore, Justice Awotoye ruled that the appeal records that Binani and the APC had sent to the Court of Appeal were insufficient and incomplete, preventing the Court from reaching a decision.
The Returning Officer is the only person with the right to declare the results of an election, so the Court ruled that Binani and the APC’s declaration of victory as invalid.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), who chose to enact legislation on his own, had a headache, and the court ruled that Binani was not entitled to Panadol for it.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner is independent under the law. He need to be permitted to accept accountability for his illegal and unlawful deed.
The unanimous ruling dismissed the appeal in its entirety and mandated that Binani and APC pay Fintiri and PDP N1 million in costs.
In October, the Adamawa State Governorship Electoral Petitions Tribunal denied Binani’s petition to remove Fintiri from office.
Details to follow.
