Tribunal: ‘It’s Dead On Arrival’ – Fintiri’s Camp Reacts To Binani’s Petition

The camp of the Governor of Adamawa State, Adamu Fintri, has reacted to a claim by the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the last gubernatorial election in Adamawa State, Senator Aishat Dahiru Binani.

Naija News reported that Binani on Saturday said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is making desperate efforts to arrest and detain the suspended Resident Electoral Commissioner, Hudu Yunusa Ari, adding the ploy is to prevent him from testifying for her at the ongoing Adamawa State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal.

She said the electoral umpire is working to frustrate her petition against the declaration of Adamu Fintri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the poll, stressing that INEC is showing bias and disregard for the order of the court.

Speaking to journalists on Saturday on behalf of Binani, the APC Returning Officer at the Mach 18 governorship election and the re-run of April 15, Mustapha Umar Madawaki accused INEC of working with the state government to thwart the diligent prosecution of the petition.

Reacting to her claims, the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to Governor Fintiri, Humwashi Wonosikou, said Binani’s petition at the tribunal was dead on arrival.

Wonosikouin, in a statement on Sunday, said such antics are that of unsuccessful politicians who are desperate for power.

He said, “Our attention has been drawn to a press conference held in Abuja on Saturday by the Binani-led faction of the APC in Adamawa, in which they accused the INEC of supporting His Excellency, The Rt. Hon. Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri to win the 2023 election in Adamawa; in the same statement, they accused what they described as some Abuja APC powerful politicians of sabotaging their effort.

“This move, too, is fruitless and dead on arrival. It is always the antics of unsuccessful politicians who are desperate for power. It is laughable that Mustapha Madawaki could be allowed to be used to spread dangerous allegations against Governor Fintiri and blame the so-called “Abuja” politicians for the electoral defeat of the APC 2023 Governorship candidate in Adamawa State.

“The Purveyors of such falsehoods and premeditated campaigns of calumny, whose objective is to harm a reputation developed through time and continuous conduct, “must be held accountable,” that under normal circumstances, it wouldn’t have been necessary to reply to coupists and their sponsors especially that the matter is before an Elections Petition Tribunal.

“After her role in the failed civilian coup engineered by the now-suspended Adamawa REC, Hudu Yunusa Ari, Binani is expected to apologise to the people of Adamawa and Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri. Everyone knew that the APC governorship contest was tainted by pay-for-votes and the general dollarization of the entire process.

“Overvoting caused the entire primary election to be declared invalid by the Federal High Court in Yola. They anticipated that the cash-in-exchange-for-votes tactics that had won the APC primary would also be successful in the main election.

“In spite of her knowledge, Binani nonetheless read the winning speech for an unlawful candidate, and now she “has no candidate to redeem.” Binani has been serving as the public face of Hudu Yunusa (the suspended REC) from the start. When initially seen, Binani was defending the confession of a person who abused his office with the sole aim of sabotage the 2023 governorship polls in Adamawa.

“To prevent INEC from prosecuting Hudu, she had an Abuja court issue a restraining order. Senator Binani was repeatedly misled by political mercenaries and conflict entrepreneurs like, who have no electoral value in Adamawa State, into thinking she was a superwoman and that every opposing voice in the party must be crushed, when in fact, the situation could have been resolved through more civilised means, such as dialogue and reconciliation with stakeholders and the people of Adamawa.

“We have repeatedly asked Binani to provide a single polling unit where there was violence during the 2023 election, and the 2023 election was the most peaceful election in Adamawa State. But as of right now, she hasn’t. Hudu allegedly manipulated the vote totals for this demographic in order to topple Governor Fintiri. Their malicious plans, however, were futile, as evidenced by the ongoing outcomes. Only God has forgiven them for their defeat, and no amount of blackmail or smear campaign against the Governor and INEC will save them from the reach of the law.

“Binani and her supporters should devote equal time and energy to refuting the fraudulent proclamation made by Hudu and his accomplices and defending the legal grounds for a civil coup in Adamawa.”