- Binani
//ONYEKA-AJUMOBI ONOCHIE//SHARE THIS
Impunity and shenanigan are currently reigning supreme with the wrongly declared winner of last Saturday’s Adamawa guber supplementary election, Aisha Dahiru. Aka Binani, dragging the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) before a Federal High Court in Abuja, for cancelling her illegal declaration.
–Mahmood Yakubu: set the precedence
Binani is contending that INEC has no power to cancel the declaration of a candidate as winner of an election, adding that the power resides in the election tribunal, not INEC.
Though she might be correct in her own right, following the record of impunity INEC chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, had openly set when he told the aggrieved presidential election opponents to go to election tribunal, if they feel so aggrieved. Yakubu said this when he was about declaring the APC candidate winner of the presidential poll, in February.
In an exparte application dated April 17, 2023, Binani is also seeking a court order to stop INEC and its agents from taking any further steps towards the declaration of the winner of the elections pending the determination of her application for judicial review.
Recall that the Adamawa governorship supplementary election was conducted on Saturday following the declaration of the March 18 poll as inconclusive over alleged irregularities.
The State Online , on Sunday, reported it has obtained a video showing harrowing experience of the Adamawa Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of INEC, Hudu Yunusa Ari, in which he was bloodily battered and stripped naked by angry PDP members who watched as he wrongly announced Aisha Dahiru, aka Binani, winner in the Saturday supplementary election.
The platform further reported that the electoral commission had since denounced the purported declaration of Binani as the winner of that election as announced by Yunusa.
INEC also said it suspended the collation of results of the supplementary election and consequently summoned the REC to Abuja, where he was eventually suspended and asked to stay away from office till further notice.
The commission said what the REC did amounts to usurpation of the powers of the Returning Officer, as it did not conclude the process of the election.
The commission’s announcement came via a post on its verified Twitter handle on Sunday.
Recall also that the supplementary election was held on Saturday in the state, in which Binani stood in for the APC and the incumbent Gov Ahmadu Fintiri for the PDP, among others.
At about 9am on Sunday morning, the INEC REC announced Aisha ‘Binani’ Dahiru, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the election.
His announcement elicited massive protests from members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) present at the state collation centre in Yola.
Before the collation exercise was suspended on Saturday night, only results from 10 LGAs had been announced — and Binani was trailing Ahmadu Fintiri, the incumbent governor and PDP candidate far behind with up to 30,000 votes.
The collation of results from the remaining 10 LGAs was expected to commence by 11am on Sunday.
Mele Lamido, the Returning Officer for the Adamawa governorship election, was not present when Yunusa-Ari illegally announced Binani as the winner of the election.
Meanwhile, only Lamido is empowered by law to declare the winner of the election, which Yunusa-Ari usurped, leading to him being severely battered.
The video of Yunusa-Ari being battered showed him bleeding profusedly as he wept like a baby. He was beheld being pulled by his manhood as he was naked by the angry and offended PDP members.
Following this, Yiaga Africa, a civil society organisation, had described the declaration as illegal, saying it is against the guidelines of the Electoral Act.
“We’ve received reports of an illegal declaration of results by the @inecnigeria REC for #Adamawa in violation of S 64 & 65 Electoral Act 2022 & Part 3, INEC guidelines which vests the power to declare results solely on a Returning Officer appointed by INEC,” Yiaga Africa said.
“We call on @inecnigeria to nullify the illegal declaration, suspend the REC for Adamawa State and take urgent actions to protect the integrity of the process,” Yiaga Africa advised.
The INEC HQ, Abuja, may have responded to Yiaga Africa’s request to do the needful by suspending the REC, Yunusa Ari, leaving him with multiple jeopardy of being brutally battered, stripped naked and now an order to stay far away from INEC office till further notice.
Feeling she may lost on all fronts, Binani then rushed to court to remind INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, of his impunity of ‘if you feel aggrieved, go to court’./SHARE THIS
- Tags: Binani, Yunusa-Ari, Ahmadu Fintiri, Mahmood Yakubu, INEC
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