On Monday, the Abuja Court of Appeal rejected the petition presented by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its gubernatorial candidate, Senator Aisha Dahiru Binani, aimed at nullifying the election of Umar Ahmadu Fintiri as the duly elected governor of Adamawa State.
The Appellate Court affirmed that Governor Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was rightfully declared the winner of the election by the Adamawa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.
In a judgment authored by Justice Tunde Oyebanji Awotoye, the court dismissed Binani and APC’s case on several grounds of irregularities. One key point was that Binani and APC failed to present Polling Agents who were present during the election as witnesses; instead, they called Campaign Coordinators who were not present at the election venue.
Justice Awotoye stated that the three witnesses brought forward by Binani and APC, who were Campaign Coordinators, were considered hearsay witnesses since they were not party agents and had not witnessed the election themselves.
The court emphasized that it is unlawful to attribute probative value to the testimony of Campaign Coordinators, deeming it irrelevant in the eyes of the law.
Additionally, Justice Awotoye noted that Binani and APC’s brief of argument violated the law, rendering it incompetent and deserving of disregard. Furthermore, the court found that the records of appeal provided by Binani and APC were incomplete and insufficient for the court to make any substantive findings.
The court declared the proclamation of Binani and APC as winners of the election illegal, asserting that only the Returning Officer has the authority to make such a declaration.
Moreover, the court criticized Binani for attempting to remedy the Resident Electoral Commissioner’s actions, stating that the Resident Electoral Commissioner should be accountable for his unlawful actions.
The unanimous decision dismissed the entire appeal and imposed a cost of N1 million to be paid by Binani and APC to Fintiri and the PDP. The Adamawa State Governorship Electoral Petitions Tribunal had earlier, in October, dismissed Binani’s petition seeking the removal of Fintiri from office. Further details are expected later.