The All Progressives Congress (APC) and its governorship candidate, Senator Aisha Dahiru Binani, petitioned the Court of Appeal in Abuja on Monday, seeking to nullify the election of Umar Ahmadu Fintiri as the legitimately elected governor of Adamawa State.
The Appellate Court ruled that the Adamawa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal correctly proclaimed Governor Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP as the victor of the election.
The case of Binani and APC was dismissed by Justice Tunde Oyebanji Awotoye on multiple grounds of irregularities.
Among the arguments, the Appeal Court determined that Binani and the APC neglected to call Polling Agents who participated in the election as witnesses, but instead called Campaign Coordinators who were not present at the voting site.
The three witnesses called to demonstrate malpractices in 27 Local Government Areas who were Campaign Coordinators, according to Justice Awotoye, are mere hearsay witnesses because they are not party agents.
The Court ruled that attaching probate values to the testimony of the Campaign Coordinators is illegal because it is useless in the face of the legislation.
Furthermore, Justice Awotoye stated that the brief of argument provided by Binani and APC was in violation of the law, making it incompetent and deserving of being ignored.
Furthermore, Justice Awotoye ruled that the documents of appeal sent to the Court of Appeal by Binani and the APC were insufficient for the Court to render a decision.
The Court ruled that declaring Binani and the APC as election victors was an illegal act, adding that the Returning Officer is the only one with the right to do so.
The Court also ruled that Binani was wrong to take Panadol for the headache of the Resident Electoral Commissioner REC, who chose to take laws into his own hands.
“The Resident Electoral Commissioner is on his own in the eyes of the law.” He should be permitted to accept responsibility for his illegal and unlawful behavior.”
The unanimous decision dismissed the appeal in its entirety and ordered Binani and APC to pay Fintiri and PDP N1m in costs.
In October, the Adamawa State Governorship Electoral Petitions Tribunal denied Binani’s petition to remove Fintiri from office.
Details to follow…