Adamawa: Observers call for free, fair supplementary governorship election

By Christiana Ekpa

A coalition of INEC-accredited domestic election observers on Friday in Yola called on the Commission to remain resolute in conducting a free, fair, credible and transparent supplementary governorship election in Adamawa.
INEC had fixed April 18 to conduct the supplementary election having declared the main one conducted on March 18 inconclusive.
Final results tallied by INEC after the March 18 exercise showed that Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PP) scored the highest votes.
The electoral umpire declared, however, that cancelled votes were more than the margin of victory between Mr Fintiri and the runner-up, Aisha Dahiru of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The incumbent governor scored 421,524 votes while Mrs Dahiru, popularly called Binani, won 390,275 votes.
Mr Fintiri also won in 13 of Adamawa’s 21 local government areas while Binani won in the remaining eight.
Mr Victor Kalu, team leader of the coalition of domestic election observers condemned calls from some quarters that the election be reviewed when he addressed a news conference on Friday.
He said the coalition condemned continuous protests at INEC offices in Yola and in Abuja by “undemocratic elements’’ desiring to thwart the process and win an election through the back door.
“We advise INEC to engage all stakeholders before, during and after the supplementary election to add value to the exercise,’’ Kalu said.