Appeal Court upholds Fintiri’s election as Adamawa governor

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has affirmed the election of Ahmadu Fintiri as Adamawa State governor.

A three-member panel of the court on Monday upheld the 28 October decision of the Adamawa State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, declaring Mr Fintiri the winner of the 18 March poll.

Aishatu Dahiru, widely known as Binani, the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate at the poll, had urged the court to sack Mr Fintiri who was the flagbearer of the PDP on account of INEC’s non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.

In the unanimous judgement, the three-member appellate court panel led by Tunde Awotoye, said Binani failed to prove allegations of non-compliance with the Electoral Act in the conduct of the March governorship election in Adamawa State.

In the verdict read by a member of the panel, Ebiowei Tobi, the Court of Appeal held that the appellant’s claim of electoral fraud in 14,104 polling stations was not substantiated.

“There is no way three witnesses can prove allegations of noncompliance in 14,104 polling units. Besides, the witnesses were not at the polling units but were campaign coordinators for the appellants,” Mr Tobi said.

The justice noted that the record of proceedings transmitted from the tribunal and the briefs to the court were incomplete.

“On the whole, this appeal lacks merit and is accordingly dismissed. The decision of the lower Tribunal is hereby confirmed,” the court awarded N1 million against the petitioners in favour of Mr Fintiri and the PDP.

Deciding on the controversy that trailed the resident electoral commissioner (REC) for Adamawa State Hudu Yunusa-Ari’s declaration of Binani as the winner of the election, the Court of Appeal said only the returning officer of an election has the statutory power to declare election results.

The record of proceedings transmitted and briefs to the court were incomplete and the evidence of PW1, PW2 and PW3 were hearsay which cannot be admitted by the court.

“On the whole, this appeal lacks merit and is accordingly dismissed. The decision of the lower Tribunal is hereby confirmed,” the court held and awarded N100,000 against the petitioners to be paid to Mr Fintiri and the PDP.

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The APC candidate lost at the tribunal in a judgement delivered in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, in October.

Delivering the judgement, the chair of the tribunal, Theodora Obi Uloho, dismissed the application filed by the APC candidate on the grounds that the petition lacked the legal ingredients to upturn Fintiri’s victory.

Nigeria’s electoral commission, INEC, had declared Mr Fintiri as the winner after a supplementary election on 18 April.

Mr Fintiri polled 430,861 votes to beat Binani who scored 398,788 votes.

But, Binani filed a petition challenging the declaration, alleging that the election was not conducted in substantial compliance with the electoral law.