Aisha ‘Binani’ Dahiru, a candidate for the All Progressives Congress (APC), was proclaimed winner by resident electoral commissioner (REC) of the commission Hudu Yunusa-Ari even though the election results had not yet been made public.
There were protests in the state as a result of the announcement, even though INEC later deemed it invalid. There were also rumors that the APC candidate had paid INEC officials N2 billion to be proclaimed the winner.
On Tuesday, Binani refuted the charge and said that certain INEC officials had made a “nocturnal visit” to the government building prior to Ahmadu Fintiri, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, being named the election’s victor.
The APC candidate also claimed that the governor of Adamawa chose the collation and returning officers.
‘NO SUCH MEETING HAPPENED’
In a statement released by INEC on Thursday, the organization claimed that “no such visit or meeting took place, let alone the assembling of any alleged list of collation and returning officers.”
The commission said that it only employed one returning officer—who also served as the state’s collation officer for the presidential election—for the governorship race.
“He received a letter of appointment from the Commission, and the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Adamawa State was officially informed, as with all Returning Officers across the country. Before the arrival of the National Commissioners, the list of Collation Officers was also sent to the State with the Chairman of the Commission personally endorsing each page of the list,” according to the statement.
“The same press release also gave the impression that Adamawa State was specifically targeted by the national headquarters of the Commission when they sent out National Commissioners and other officials, with the express purpose of influencing the results of the supplementary election held on Saturday, April 25, 2023, and discrediting the REC. The opposite couldn’t be more true.
“For the record, it has been the standard policy and practice of the Commission to deploy National Commissioners, RECs and other staff from the headquarters or neighbouring States for supplementary or off-cycle elections where doing so is considered necessary.
“Two National Commissioners were assigned in the case of Adamawa State, where a supplementary governorship election was held in 69 voting units, while three National Commissioners were deployed in Kebbi State, which involved 142 polling units. Likewise, one National Commissioner was sent to each of the states of Sokoto, Zamfara, Imo, Rivers, Ekiti, and Ogun.
“The Commission has made this a regular procedure, and all RECs have been made aware of it in advance. Adamawa State was not explicitly targeted as a result. The RECs collaborated with the National Commissioners in all other States, with the exception of Adamawa State, for reasons that are now well understood.
“The general public is urged to view these allegations as nothing more than claptrap. We further urge those responsible for the trouble to stop right away because their fabrications have put our officials’ (both temporary and permanent) lives in jeopardy while they carried out their official electoral duties. We anticipate well-meaning persons to behave in a proper and decent manner.”