By Suleiman Umaru
The Supplementary governorship election in Adamawa, home state of Atiku Abubakar, a former Nigerian Vice President and the Opposition People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Candidate for the February 25, 2023, Presidential elections, appears to have exposed the manipulations of the 2023 elections by the ruling APC, in collaboration with the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Resident Electoral Commissioners, REC, in the 36 states of the Federation and Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, FCT, states of the Federation where elections have been organised for the Presidential election and the 28 states for the governorship .
Acting on the mandate of the mandate of the APC, Yunusa Ari, the Adamawa state Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, had announced Senator Aisha Binani Dashiru, a close political ally of President Muhammadu of the rulling APC, who was trailing behind Eng, Ahmadu Fintri, the incumbent governor of the state who was said to be trailing behind the governor in the 10 Local government elections results that had been announced as the winner of the election, against the INEC Act. Fintri of the ruling PDP ,in the Atiku , home state was said to have won in seven Local Government Areas, LGAs, declared , leaving the remaining three for Hajia Binani of the Opposition APC, in the state.
Insider information said Prof. Mohammed Lminu Meleh, a Professor and Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of Maiduguri, Borno state ,who incidentally was the returning officer for the Adamawa governorship election was not present when Ari, INEC REC announced Hajia Dahiru, the Katsina state born Nigerian President favourite as the winner of the election.
Going by the INEC, Act, Prof. Meleh, who is the Returning Officer empowered to declare the winner of the Adamawa governorship election and not the REC. This may informed why Mahmud Yakubu, a Professor and Chairman, INEC, as suspended the collation of results from the remaining 10 LGAs in the state , till further notice.
An aggrieved Festus Okoye, the agency National Commissioner , and Chairman Information and voters Education had said that the Adamawa REC ‘’acting as collation and returning officer are not part of the powers delegated to him’’ by the Commission , insisting that ‘’he has no right whatsoever to make an declaration and make a return’’.
Debo Olognagba, the PDP, National Public Relations Officer, has said the action of the Adamawa REC, did come to them as a surprise, because he was a member of the APC, masquerading as an INEC official in the state. The party may have noticed his actions and inactions in past elections in the state that the Leadership has demanded for his removal, but the Prof. Yakubu, the National Chairman of the Commission was hesitant to do so .
Ologunagba, the Opposition PDP, spokesperson had said that by dragging the name of INEC, to the mud , the Adamawa REC, has confirmed the alarms raised by the party which demanded his immediate removal from the state as the only way to guarantee a free, fair and transparent election in the state following alleged evidence of compromise with the APC and Hajia Dahiru, its governorship Candidate in the state to manipulate the election in their vavour, notwithstanding the votes of the people of Adamawa state.
The Opposition PDP, may have read the handwriting on the wall and warned that Ari’s action is ‘’subversive and a calculated attempt to throw the state into crisis and distabilise the country’s democracy and peaceful –coexistence as a nation’’
True to the PDP,warning, the action of the Adamawa REC, may have angered the people that they took the law into their hands to brutalise the two National Commissioners deployed to the state to help Ari, the state REC, in organising the Saturday, April 15, Supplementary governorship poll in the state. One of them, a former Vice Chancellor of Dan Fodio University, Sokoto, according to the Okoye, the Commission’s spokesperson was stripped naked and dragged on the streets by the angry Youths’’, stressing that the electoral umpire will not ‘’allow that to stand to avoid a repeat in the future’’.
Any believe that with the humiliation of the two national Commissioners,with one of them be stripped naked and dragged along the street of Yola, the street of Yola, the state Capital, because of the action the action of Ari, the state REC, may have sent a message to the INEC, Chairman, that he has to remove Ari, the politician in the INEC office in Adamawa state holding important position.
Prof Yakubu, who could not stomach the harassment and humiliation of his two National Commissioners deployed to Adamawa state to help monitor the supplementary governorship election in the state was saidt o have urged the security agencies, particular,Usman Alkali Baba , led Nigerian Police Force, NPF and Ysuf Magaji Bichi , led Department of State Security, DSS, to unmask those who engaged that dastardly act.
The INEC, Chairman, who could not hide his feelings has given his words that they must be arrested , investigated and prosecuted’’ as a lesson to others who might want to engage in such particular act of molesting INEC ,officials as if they are common criminal in the future.
While the PDP are crying over the manipulation of the governorship election in Adamawa state, Babatunde Fashola, a former governor of Lagos state and minister of Works and Housing, has said that three main opponents of the party in the February 25, 2023, poll gave away victory to Tinubu, of the ruling APC.
The minister noted that the PDP, has been split into various factions since after the 2019 Presidential elections to the advantage of the APC, which had remained one. He had said that the major contenders for the 2023, general election, Peter Obi, a former governor of Anambra state, and Candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Atiku’s PDP, and Rabiu Kwankwanso, a former governor of Kano state and the New Nigerian People’s Party, NNPP, Candidate for the 2023, P belonged to the Opposition PDP and now divided into three, there is no way the PDP could have won the election, let alone LP, winning.
According to him , the trio, belonged to the same party in 2019, but separated towards the 2023 poll which gave Tinubu of the APC, an opportunity to win the Presidential election. He noted that why the PDP , was factionalising, APC was adding and multiplying. He had cited Eng. Dave Umahi, Prof. Benedict Ayande and Bello Matawalle, of Eboyi, Cross river and Zamfara states respectively, all PDP governors,who had joined the APC.
He further asserted that the PDP, gave away the Presidential ticket by dividing their powers. Fashola , who was aid to have unbeared his mind when he appeared on Channels Television , recently, disclosed that ‘’not only did they divide , they further subtracted with the G5 , comprising of Nyeson Wike of Rivers state, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi , Enugu, Okezie Ijpeazu, Abia and Samuel Ortom, a former mister of Industry, Trade and Investment, , during Goodluck Jonathan’s Administration and governor of Benue state. The former Lagos state governor who had described politics is a game of numbers, noting that numbers have arithmetic equations, additions and multiplications’’, stressing that’’ APC was adding and multiplying and’’ PDP was dividing and subtracting’’.
Tinubu had won in 12 ,out of the 36 states of the Federation and secured substantial votes in the states of the Federtion to claim the highest number of votes of 8,794,726, almost two million votes more than Atiku, the PDP, Flag bearer and hi, closest rival who polled 6,984,520 votes to Obi’s 6,101,533 and Kwankwanso ‘s 1,496,687 votes. Putting on the garb of a politician, he believes if the trio, and the G5, had joined forces, to work for the PDP, their parent party, there is no way Tinubu, of the ruling APC, could have won the 2023, election.
