Adamawa Guber: Binani accuses INEC of frustrating petition at tribunal
“The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is deliberately frustrating our petition at the tribunal,” said Sen. Aishatu Binani, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
She is challenging the declaration of Adamu Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the Adamawa governorship election.
READ ALSO: Aisha Binani sues INEC, PDP for countering her declaration as Adamawa Governor-elect
Binani alleges that INEC is biased by disregarding a court order and attempting to arrest and detain the suspended Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr Hudu Ari. This, she claims, is a plot to prevent him from testifying at the ongoing hearing of the tribunal. She believes that INEC wants to keep the suspended REC out of circulation to make him unavailable as a witness for her.
Speaking on behalf of Binani, Alhaji Mustapha Umar-Madawaki, the APC Returning Officer in the March 18 governorship election, appealed to Nigerians to call INEC to order. Umar-Madawaki believes that INEC needs to be held accountable and allow the APC candidate to reclaim her mandate, which was freely given to her by the people of Adamawa.
READ ALSO: Binani reopens suit against INEC over nullification of declaration as Adamawa gov.
Umar-Madawaki alleges that during the collation of results, INEC replaced the trained ad hoc workers with a different group of staff, leading to the production of different election results from those submitted by the authentic workers. He claims this is the main reason why INEC is working to prevent the former Adamawa REC from testifying before the tribunal.
In response to these accusations, Mr Festus Okoye, National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee at INEC, stated that the commission would not engage in a public discourse over matters pending in court.
He emphasized that all courts have the power and jurisdiction to compel the appearance of any individual. Okoye advised any individual or group with grievances to approach the appropriate courts to address their concerns.
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