Show of shame in Adamawa

It is the case with Nigerian democracy when we take a step forward at one turn, we often follow it up with two steps backwards at the next turn. Had the show of shame in Adamawa State, over the past two weeks ended as planned, our democracy would have taken all steps back to ground zero. Happily, the rule of law and democracy won the day, even if much damage was still done.

Yet, no one thought it would end like this. Of all the 28 governorship elections held in this year, none had captured the popular imagination of Nigerians than that in Adamawa. It had all the elements of an epic battle, and the possibility of making history. Apart from the presidential election, all eyes were in Adamawa, in the so-called “conservative Muslim North”, where, nevertheless, a woman, Senator Aisha Dahiru, more popularly known as Aisha Binani, had emerged the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Having defeated three male candidates in her party’s primary election—a no mean feat on a slate that included a former presidential candidate, a former governor of the state, and a sitting member of the House of Representatives from the state—Binani was poised to dislodge a sitting governor to round off a scintillating series of electoral contests that would make her the first elected female governor of a state ever in Nigeria’s political history. And most Nigerians without a vote in the election had hoped for only one outcome: her win. Unfortunately, Binani, with her own hands, threw all of the goodwill and the political prospects that come with it away, in one terrible show of shame that would not be forgotten soon.  After the collation of results in 20 of Adamawa’s 21 Local Government Areas (LGAs) following the main election on 18th March 2023, the odds, alas, seemed stacked against Binani. Her opponent, Governor Ahmadu Fintiri had won in 13 LGAs, polling 401,115 votes, against Binani’s win in seven LGAs with a total of 365,498 votes. But irregularities in the remaining LGA and in pockets of other places across the state meant that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had to declare the election inconclusive and ordered a rerun for April 15th.

With a deficit of 35,617 votes to make up for, against a total of just over 36,000 votes up for grabs in the rerun election, Binani needed a miracle to flip the final outcome in her favour. By Sunday morning of April 15th, when Fintiri still maintained his lead over her with eight of the 20 wards in the supplementary election declared, few expected Binani to come out tops, even if many still wished for the miracle. However, before the resumption of the further collation that Sunday by 11am as previously scheduled, INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Hudu Yunusa-Ari usurped the powers of the election’s Returning Officer to declare Binani winner in a gibberish of a speech that was as shameless as it was illegal.

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Binani, in turn, promptly delivered an “acceptance speech” live on national television, and then proceeded to the courts, seeking to bar INEC from rescinding her declaration, even as the INEC leadership in Abuja had already, and rightly, declared her ‘declaration as winner’ null and void. In the end, when all due process was completed on 18th April, INEC declared Governor Fintiri as the rightful winner of the election. And the rest, as they say, is now history.

We commend INEC for its swift intervention that helped save the day from the illegal antics of a rogue REC. We also commend the resilience of the state’s Returning Officer, Professor Mohammed Mele and INEC’s National Commissioner on assignment in the state, Prof Abdullahi Zuru, for their integrity and sacrifice in the face of both physical and moral intimidation during the process. Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja, who refused to be drawn in with Binani’s judicial subterfuge also deserves commendation. So too does Governor Ahmadu Finitiri for his maturity and for not taking the law into his hands.

It is good that President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered a probe into the actions of all heads of security agencies in the state. It’s also good that INEC has since suspended the rogue REC Ari, and recommended his prosecution. But the federal government must go beyond these measures to ensure that the case is thoroughly investigated and all culprits made to face the full wrath of the law. In addition, we urge INEC to review its lengthy, tedious and arcane collation processes with a view towards making them more efficient and fit for purpose. The procedures and requirements for appointing a Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) to INEC should also be reviewed to reduce the possibility of appointing people without integrity.

For Binani, we have nothing but rebuke. She allowed desperation for office to get the better of her, and by so doing, has let the whole nation down. Her actions fall far short of the role model millions of girls and women in the country had come to see in her. And for this, she should apologize.