There are intriguing happenings on the Adamawa state political scene, with full glares of the winners celebrating their victory. Winners have emerged in the primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Adamawa whose. In APC, Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed Binani is the supposed winner is of the governorship primary election, while in PDP, incumbent Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri won the ticket unopposed. He polled 663 of the 668 votes, with five of the votes declared void.
The Social Democratic Party (SDP) has Dr. Umar Ardo as the party’s flag bearer for the governorship election; Ibrahim Baba Inna of the People’s Redemption Party (PRP) won while NNPP and others are yet to conduct their governorship primaries.
Binani won the primaries with 430 votes while two cases of over-voting was announced during the declaration of the result. For this, the Electoral Act 22 has invalidated the whole process. The Act stipulates: “No member shall vote for more than one aspirant and where the vote cast exceeds the number of accredited voters, the election shall be declared void by the ward electoral/returning officer on behalf of the electoral committee and the exercise may be repeated.”
It is on this premise, however, that former Speaker of the Adamawa state House of Assembly, Rt Hon Sadiq Ibrahim Dasin, said the over-voting by two votes does not change the winning status of Senator Aishatu Binani.
Dasin, a lawyer as well as a former member of the House of Representatives (Figure/Song, Adamawa state), argued that as much as the guidelines provide that voting invalidates the election in law, there is the “diminimis les curate lex,” a legal maxim meaning the law is not concerned with insignificant or minor matters.
According to him, the over-voting is so insignificant as to change the outcome of the election. The two votes recorded as over-voting would, at worst, be deducted from the votes scored by the winner. And if the two votes are deducted, Binani still wins.
“So, I don’t think people should bother themselves with the issue at all. Besides, the law even says it is the electoral officer that would declare the election void and he didn’t do it,” he said.
In a contrary opinion, however, a constitutional lawyer, Barrister Gabriel Adiukwu, said Dasin should not presume that Binani is still the winner of the APC primaries going by the same 2022 Electoral Act.
He said it is a matter of litigation and interpretation as the Act clearly states that any case of this magnitude should be voided in its worst-case scenario or a repeat of the exercise may be declared.
“The APC primary election that produced Senator Aishatu Dahiru Binani as the flag bearer of the party will have to be cancelled on the ground of the alleged over-voting if proven.
“The alleged over-voting will only result in the cancellation of the entire result of the primary election and not disqualification of any of the aspirants,” Adiukwu said
In the PDP, where Fintiri won, his lone contest was sequel to a court injunction instituted by Ambassador Jameel Waziri stopping the primaries. Waziri is challenging his disqualification which infringes his right to participate in the exercise. Proceeding with the primaries that produced Fintiri as PDP candidate is tantamount to contempt of court; the matter is slated for hearing on June 6.
So, shall there be a court ruling that the PDP governorship primary election is null and void because of the disqualification matter instituted by Waziri? Will the exercise suffer the same fate of no candidate like APC.
The governorship primaries of the two major political parties in Adamawa state ended up raising legal controversies that seek judicial interpretations.
Courtesy of law, the Zamfara political history may replicate itself in Adamawa state where there are no genuine candidates in APC or PDP. Parties with no controversies in producing their candidates may end up producing the next governor of Adamawa state in 2023.
SDP and PRP whose primaries were conducted and no legal issues raised may end up filling the loopholes of illegality created by PDP and APC in their primaries.
Like in the case of Zamfara state, Adamawa state is now waiting for the law to answer and address plethora of the questions bogging the minds of its people.
In Zamfara, Muktar Idris of the APC was first issued the certificate of return as governor of the state. However, the Court of Appeal in Sokoto ordered that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should withdraw the certificate.
The Supreme Court later pronounced that the votes cast for the APC in the election were wasted and ordered that the candidate with the second highest votes be sworn in, that is, the PDP candidate. This was because the APC failed to conduct primary elections for all the candidates in Zamfara state.
Garba, a journalist, writes from Yola, Adamawa state via ;[email protected],
08172570959
