Yunusa Ari, the resident electoral commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Adamawa, has sparked controversy in the state’s governorship election by announcing Aisha ‘Binani’ Dahiru, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the election on Sunday morning.
This announcement came as a surprise, as before the collation exercise was suspended on Saturday night, results from 10 LGAs had been announced, and Binani was trailing Ahmadu Fintiri, the incumbent governor and PDP candidate.
Governorship election results are traditionally announced by the state returning officer. Mele Lamido, the returning officer for the Adamawa governorship election, was not present when Ari announced Binani as the winner of the election.
This announcement by the INEC REC has elicited protests from members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
More to come later…