PDP protests demand continuation of collation, conclusion of Adamawa guber polls

The Governorship Campaign Council of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Adamawa State has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to conclude the processes of the governorship election in the state without further delay.

The Council which led a protest to the state INEC office in Yola on Monday is insisting that the collation of results of the supplementary governorship election halted on Sunday be resumed immediately.

PoliticsNow reports that the INEC headquarters in Abuja suspended the collation in Adamawa State on Sunday after its Resident Electoral Officer, Hudu Ari, announced a ‘winner’ of the election while collation was still ongoing.

Making the declaration Sunday morning while collation officers were waiting till 11 am to resume collation of results of the supplementary governorship election from the remaining 10 LGAs, Ari named the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Aishatu Ahmed Binani, winner.

Before the announcement, Binani had been trailing the lead candidate, Ahmadu Fintiri of the PDP who was leading the polls with a margin of over 30,000 votes

Fintiri of the PDP had by Sunday morning polled a total of 425,816 votes after results had been collated from the first 10 LGAs where the supplementary election was conducted while Binani had received a total of 393,403 votes.

The headquarters of INEC reacted to Ari’s declaration by disowning the act and announcing the suspension of the collation exercise.

However, the PDP Council, during its protest match to the Yola INEC office Monday morning, said the time to resume the collation of results is now.

Deputy Chairman of the council, Mr Felix Tangwami, who spoke to newsmen at the gate of the INEC office, said the protest would continue till INEC heeds its call and announces the remaining results.

“INEC has the responsibility to conclude this election and prosecute those who are taking us back,” the PDP campaign official said, mentioning Ari as the INEC official who should not go unpunished.