How REC misled Returning Officer to declare Adamawa poll inconclusive – Fintiri

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How REC misled Returning Officer to declare Adamawa poll inconclusive – Fintiri

The Governor of Adamawa State and the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in last Saturday’s governorship election in the state, Ahmadu Fintiri, has accused the state’s Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of misleading the Returning Officer to declare the election inconclusive.

The PDP candidate said with the margin of votes, he was leading his closest opponent, Senator Aishatu Dahiru famously known as Binani of the All Progressives Congress (APC). The incumbent added that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ought to have declared him the winner of the election.

“Because of the inexperience and mindset of the REC, he misled the Returning Officer, there was no need for it (inconclusive).

“I was leading by over 35,000. In Ogun, he (Governor Dapo Abiodun) led by 12,000, issues in various units across the state was over 30,000 but the man was declared. The same thing with Kaduna, the same thing in several other states if you go round,” Fintiri said.

The governor also accused the REC of listing polling units (PUs) where elections were concluded and results uploaded on the INEC portal among PUs where there were problems. He said INEC should remove the REC to protect its integrity.

“And he went and concocted some PUs and units that had already been concluded. For instance, if you go to Fufore, there is a PU 003 and there are 103 registered voters in that unit, less than 30 voted that day but there was over voting, it was cancelled.

“There is a PU 017 it was concluded, even on IREV it was concluded, the result is there, there was no over voting, no issue. But if you check the list of PUs that he listed for the national headquarters as places that has issues that one is also included.

“With the kind of integrity INEC has built over the years, they should not allow the man to continue,” he stated.

Fintiri, however, said that he is not against a rerun as long as it is conducted within the provisions of the law. He expressed confidence that he will still emerge winner after the rerun.

INEC had on Monday declared the March 18 governorship election in Adamawa inconclusive.

The candidate of the APC, Binani, scored 390, 275 while the incumbent polled 421,524.

INEC state collation officer, Prof Muhammadu Mele of the University of Maiduguri declared the election inconclusive due to the margin of votes.

The electoral umpire is expected to take a decision on the election in the days to come.