The battle for the number one seat in Adamawa State is yet to come to an end.
In fact, it appears that the battle is now hotter after INEC declared Ahmadu Fintiri the winner of the supplementary election.
You see, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state insisting that its candidate, Aisha Dahiru Binani, is the winner of the governorship election.
The party vows to resist any attempt to upturn her victory.
Negative Propaganda
The State’s REC, Hudu Yunusa Ari, had declared Binani as the winner after Saturday’s supplementary elections.
However, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) rejected the result.
Later the commission declared Governor Ahmadu Fintiri the winner of the election.
But the state party’s chairman told a press conference held at its headquarters in Yola that the APC had noticed a negative propaganda spread on the media.
They say the propaganda is spread by agents of the PDP to discredit the process that produced Binani as winner of the keenly contested election.
The party’s state Acting Chairman, Elder Samaila Tadawus, said the party would explore all legal means possible to protect the mandate of Binani.
Financial Inducements
He noted that she was already the state governor-elect.
Furthermore, he absolved Binani from reports that she attempted to manipulate the process through financial inducements.
The party insists that the lawmaker remains the most popular among the candidates.
The APC chairman says it was the state government who mounted pressures on two National Commissioners on observation duty to illegally suspend the REC.
He dismissed reports that the REC usurped another persons powers in declaring Binani as winner.
To him, the INEC official is also saddled with such responsibility.
The statement
“We are concerned with the negative propaganda by the losers of this election. Some of them are: That the REC was bribed to make the declaration. This is a blatant lie.
“Our candidate was popular and did not require the manipulation of the process to win the election.
“Those who needed to manipulate the process are the ones who wanted the REC to be illegally suspended by two National Commissioners on an observer duty.
Weaponisation Of Violence
“We are also aware that the molestation of the National Commissioners was done by Agents of the State Government.
“Hired thugs were used to molest one of them to the point that he was stripped half naked.
“Shamelessly, one of the Agents of the state Government was seen apologizing to the affected person.”
Also, he claimed that they molested him thinking he was the REC.
“We condemn the weaponisation of violence by the opposition.
“This is seen by their so-called daily protest which is a harbinger for violence.
Misguided Agitators
“The party calls on security agencies to, as a matter of urgency, stop these misguided agitators who are bent on throwing the state into chaos.
“We wish to also express sincere appreciation to the people of the state for shunning their call for violence.
“The APC is peaceful and peace loving.
“We will continue to promote peace in the state because we believe that nothing can be achieved without peace.
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“Let me state clearly that the APC and all our members in Adamawa State are solidly behind our Governor-elect.
“We wish to announce that we will protect our mandate by all legal means.
“Finally, we call on INEC to abide by the legal requirements that provide for only the Tribunal or the courts to upturn a valid and lawful declaration.
“The REC has absolute responsibility for state elections The returning officers for Governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections report to him.
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“Arguing that the REC cannot do what he did in the circumstances he found himself is a losing argument.”
However, what the APC did not mention was whether it was lawful to announce the winner of an election without collating all results.