Adamawa Re-run: Top INEC Commissioners In N1.5B Foiled Move To Suspend REC Ari, Declare Fintiri?
…This calls for thorough investigation as Adamawa REC disappeared following the alleged coalition move to hijack the collation and reappeared to declare Distinguished Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed, a.k.a Binani as returned elected governor
The Save Nigeria Movement (SNM) is reported to have foiled another of Governor Fintiri’s last-minute attempts to curtail democracy by buying his way past INEC’s top officials. Prof. Baba Bila and Prof. Abdullahi Abdu Zuru, both national commissioners of the commission, were particularly involved in the N1.5 billion bazaar as alleged, online media reported.
SNM alleged that Fintiri hired Prof Kuna, an advisor to INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmoud Yakubu, to facilitate the bribery bazaar between INEC officials and Gov Fintiri.
The group insisted that it was improper for the two national commissioners or any other official to have travelled from headquarters to take the collation process away from the REC in a statement by its director of Operations, Samuel Gyang Esq.
There were allegations that the INEC commissioners, prior to the supplementary elections, had dinner with Governor Fintri in Yola and were each given N500 million with the promise of additional N500 million and a Caribbean vacation if they declared him, Fintri as the returned elected at all costs regardless of the actual winner.
According to reports, the resident electoral commissioner has disappeared only to later reappear to declare Binani as the returned elected and disappeared again, the only way he knew best how to protect his function and position.
“This show of desperation by Governor Fintiri, enabled by the commission's top officials, is appalling and must not be allowed to triumph,” the resident electoral commissioner reportedly said.
The group claimed that it had previously warned the public and security agencies about Governor Fintiri’s misdeeds and the assistance that INEC headquarters had provided for him, particularly, because (3) top officials involved at every stage of the bribery bazaar were coming from the Electoral Commission headquarters.
This is something that all patriots should be concerned about because the current Chairman’s fronts and top aides are an open example of Mafian culture in election-running.
As a result, the group vowed to petition President Buhari, anti-corruption organisations, and the international community to tell the chairman of the commission to do the right thing and announce Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed, Binani as the true winner of the election because our democracy is much stronger than any compromise.
For the group therefore, REC Ari has arguably done the needful however in what is considered as wrongful manner; declaring Binani as the Governor Elect.
The group promised to address the issue by starting a change petition, requesting local and global sanctions against INEC officials. "We have credible evidence against Prof. Baba Bila, Prof. Abdullahi Abdu Zuru and Prof. Kuna, all of whom are senior members of the Independent National Electoral Commissioner and work for Governor Fintiri.
