Adamawa Poll: Atiku Express Strong Disapprovement Over REC’s Action 

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 polls, has said the declaration of Adamawa governorship election results was an upturn in the democratic wishes of the people of the state.

This was stated in a statement by his Media Adviser, Paul Ibe, on Sunday in Abuja.

He said that the decision of Malam Hudu Yunusa-Ari, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Adamawa to declare the APC candidate, Sen. Aisha Binani, as the winner of the election, was a case study in the chaotic 2023 general elections.

“Here in Adamawa, we are witnesses to a novel practice in election management where a Resident Electoral Commissioner announced the loser of an election as a winner”, he said.

He further said that INEC has approached the Adamawa State election with a pre-set agenda of declaring the APC at all cost.

It is, therefore, on this note that we wish to call the attention of the world to the scheme being perpetrated by INEC to compromise the electoral wishes of the people of Adamawa State,” he added.

Abubakar also said INEC behaviour has negative consequences on the society. He said people had seen how INEC conducted the Feb. 25 and March 18 elections against the run of play and later challenged cheated candidates to go to court.

According to Abubakar, the people of Adamawa would not allow themselves to be cheated three times in a row.

He also associated APC candidat’s prepared acceptance speech was a pointer to the guaranteed false victory which the INEC must have promised her.

He claimed that it was the same REC who pressured the Returning Officer to manipulate the results of the Fufore Local Government Area in the March 18 governorship election.

Abubakar thus demanded the immediate resumption of the collation of results and its finalisation today, stating that the people of Adamawa would not allow the injustice to pass without being challenged.

“It is also our demand that the Adamawa REC and any other parties complicit in this treasonable act should be arrested immediately and prosecuted to the full extent of the law”, he said.

Abubakar said it will serve as a deterrent to anti-democratic forces who may want to torpedo our democracy and provoke violence in our country.

Yunusa-Ari had declared Binani as winner midway into the collation. He announced the final result an hour before the scheduled time.