By Akinwale Kasali
The Supreme Court on Wednesday affirmed Ahmadu Fintiri as the duly elected Governor of Taraba State. It thus upheld the March 18, 2023 Governorship Election in the State.
The Apex Court in a unanimous decision by a five-member panel, led by Justice Inyang Okoro, dismissed, as lacking in merit, an appeal the All Progressives Congress, APC, and its Governorship Candidate, Senator Aisha Dahiru, popularly known as Binani, filed to challenge the outcome of the governorship election that was held in the state on March 18, 2023.
The appellants, through their team of lawyers led by Chief Akinolu Olujimi, SAN, prayed the Court to nullify the declaration of Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as the valid winner of the Gubernatorial contest.
They urged the Supreme Court to set aside the concurrent verdict of the Court of Appeal and the Adamawa State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, which dismissed their case and upheld Fintiri’s re-election.
Specifically, Senator Dahiru insisted that she polled the majority of valid votes cast at the election and was validly declared the winner by the state’s Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC.
She, among other things, prayed the court to determine who ought to be the bona fide Returning Officer in a gubernatorial election.
However, Fintiri, through his lawyer, Mr Damian Dodo, SAN, urged the apex court to dismiss the appeal and validate his election victory.
Fintiri argued that he emerged victorious, having secured the majority of lawful votes and fulfilled all the requirements of the law.
The PDP and electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had prayed that the court should dismiss the appeal and affirm Fintiri’s election victory.
Justice Inyang Okoro held that the action of the suspended Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, in Adamawa State, Hudu Yunusa-Ari, who declared Senator Dahiru as the winner of the poll, was an act of irresponsibility and criminality.
The court held that only a Returning Officer has the duty to announce the results of an election to avert chaos and anarchy in the process.
According to the Supreme Court, the Electoral Act, 2022, specified who should declare results, stressing that such power was exclusively donated to the Returning Officer.
