…Is there no romance between some APC members with PDP’S Fintiri, suffocating the political air in Adamawa? A Fact far from campaign of calumny, capturing conspiracy, complete complicity, crafty conveners…
…Both elections at the behest of these same forces and the active connivance of the PDP and INEC, were compromised to favour the PDP candidate…
…The G5 were willing to slight the APC Presidential Candidate just to frustrate the efforts of the gubernatorial candidate…
…The plot to stop her shifted gears by secretly aligning with the governorship candidate of PDP and resorting to a well-oiled campaign of calumny and intimidation aimed at frustrating the efforts of the APC candidate and discouraging the good citizens of Adamawa State from voting for her…
…Despite the fact that both elections were marred with significant irregularities intended to frustrate the APC candidate, the closeness of the elections are a testament to the enduring love that the people of Adamawa have for Binani…
…When it became clear that APC had won Fufore, attempts were made to change the results. This was done when collation was moved to a police station, in Fufore, surrounded by PDP supporters menacingly shouting PDP slogans. APC supporters were barred from the venue.…
…I noticed that REC wasn’t at the Collation Centre but the 2 INEC Commissioners, I was told that he was unavoidably absent because of administrative issues. I later discovered that there was a concerted attempt to keep him away from the collation process because he had refused to play according to the plan to scuttle the clear victory of the APC. It took the gallant efforts of security agents to finally bring him to the collation centre…
…Also conspicuously absent were the co-chairs of the process: the Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner and the Commissioner of Police and the Director of DSS and NSCDC. The only officials on ground were the two Federal Commissioners, Dr. Baba Bila and Prof. Abdullahi Abdu Zuru, and the strange-looking Abuja-appointed INEC Returning Officer…
…The fact that intimidation was used by the agents and supporters of the governor of Adamawa State to have results declared in his favour against the rightful winner, was graphically displayed in the so called “confessional” video that emerged later…
…Then, you have the well-documented use of violence and intimidation by PDP supporters against the APC in all the political strongholds of the APC candidate. Both INEC and the Police conveniently turned a blind eye to it…
…The two INEC Commissioners were received by agents of the Governor of Adamawa State, and driven to Dougirei House, where they met with the governor and were later taken to the house of the Presidential Candidate of PDP. I put it bluntly to them that they were clearly biased in favour of the PDP and, therefore, unfit to be umpires in this election…
…During the rerun election, The genuine list of Ad-hoc staff duly selected by INEC was mysteriously substituted by another list forwarded on the official letterhead of the VC of the Modibbo Adama University…
…These explain why INEC is working overtime trying to prevent the former Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Barrister Hudu, from testifying before the Adamawa State Governorship Elections Petitions Tribunal…
A radical and political stalwart in Adamawa state, Alhaji Umar Mustapha Madawaki, a.k.a Otunba of Ekiti has accused some influential APC members from Adamawa state, he referred to as the anti Binani G5, of collaborating with some INEC officials and other individuals to thwart and subvert the outcome of the Adamawa 2023 governorship election to favour the PDP’s Rt Hon Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, a.k.a Fresh Air, against the APC’s distinguished Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed, a.k.a Binani, the lone female governorship candidate, generally referred to as the Governor-In-Waiting, whom the polls have suggestively favoured and that which called for her earlier declaration by INEC – referred to as the Hudu declaration – as the winner of the election.
Otumba, who was APC governorship aspirant enough to reveal the party intrigues, to identify the good, the bad and the ugly, has in a press conference on Saturday in Abuja, he titled “THE DESPERATE, RELENTLESS AND BIASED EFFORTS OF INEC AND HER COLLABORATORS TO THWART AND SUBVERT THE OUTCOME OF THE ADAMAWA GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION,” alleged that the G5 tried without success to bar Binani from the governorship contest way back from the party primaries and continued relentlessly with INEC and other collaborators
In his words,” the G5 were willing to slight the APC Presidential Candidate just to frustrate the efforts of the gubernatorial candidate”.
Read below, Otunba’s submission in part:
Against all these powerful maneuverings and manipulations, Senator Aishatu Dahiru Binani emerged as the Adamawa State APC governorship flag bearer.
The plot to stop her shifted gears by secretly aligning with the governorship candidate of PDP and resorting to a well-oiled campaign of calumny and intimidation aimed at frustrating the efforts of the APC candidate and discouraging the good citizens of Adamawa State from voting for her.
This plot also failed, as reflected in the Governorship Elections that took place on the 18th of March and the Supplementary Elections of April 15th.
Despite the fact that both elections were marred with significant irregularities (and we will talk about those in a minute) intended to frustrate the APC candidate, the closeness of the elections are a testament to the enduring love that the people of Adamawa have for Senator Aishatu Dahiru Binani. She towered head and shoulders above all her detractors and enemies. Who had predicted that she would be crushed to oblivion.
The Connivance of INEC:
We believe that both elections, at the behest of these same forces, and the active connivance of the PDP and INEC, were compromised to favour the PDP candidate. The following facts buttress the point we are making:
When it became clear that APC had won Fufore, attempts were made to change the results. These resulted in several different and contradictory results being deliberately circulated to prepare ground for a falsified result to be slipped in through the back door.
This was done when collation was moved to a police station, in Fufore, surrounded by PDP supporters menacingly shouting PDP slogans. APC supporters were barred from the venue. Afterwards, a cooked-up report was announced and, eventually, the election was declared “inconclusive” and a re-run election fixed.
After the supplementary election, and after it became clear that the APC candidate, against all odds, had won, the plot to deprive her of her victory was taken to another level. I was the Returning Officer for the APC at the collation center and so, I can talk about what happened.
First, I noticed that Resident Electoral Commissioner was conspicuously absent. Only the two Federal Commissioners were present at the collation center.
When I questioned them, I was told he was unavoidably absent because of administrative issues. It later turned out that what they told me was false. He was absent because there was a concerted attempt to keep him away from the collation process because he had refused to play according to the plan to scuttle the clear victory of the APC. It took the gallant efforts of security agents to finally bring him to the collation center.
Also conspicuously absent from the collation center was the co-chairs of the process: the Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner and the Commissioner of Police. The Director of DSS and NSCDC were also conspicuously absent.
The only officials on ground were the two Federal Commissioners, Dr. Baba Bila and Prof. Abdullahi Abdu Zuru, and the strange-looking Abuja-appointed INEC Returning Officer.
PDP supporters, as they showed themselves to be throughout the entire process of the election, were combative and I was personally insulted and almost assaulted. They deliberately created an intimidating atmosphere inside and outside the collation center with the sole intention to prevent the real results from being declared.
The fact that intimidation was used by the agents and supporters of the governor of Adamawa State to have results declared in his favour against the rightful winner, was graphically displayed in the so called “confessional” video that emerged later, in which the obviously tortured and frightened and coerced Deputy Director of DSS tried, unconvincingly, to implicate the APC candidate in an imaginary bribery attempt.
Then, you have the well-documented use of violence and intimidation by PDP supporters against the APC in all the political strongholds of the APC candidate. Both INEC and the Police conveniently turned a blind eye to it, thus allowing PDP and its agents to do whatever they wished.
When it was clear to me that a conspiracy to deprive APC of victory was afoot. I decided to confront the two INEC Federal Commissioners with the fact that when they arrived Yola the previous evening, they were received by agents of the Governor of Adamawa State, and driven to Dougirei House, where they met with the governor and were later taken to the house of the Presidential Candidate of PDP.
I put it bluntly to them that they were clearly biased in favour of the PDP and, therefore, unfit to be umpires in this election. They were both dumbfounded and could say nothing.
It was at this point that the Resident Electoral Officer, Barrister Hudu Yunusa Ari, arrived against all the odds that were deliberately set against him. Their attempt to prevent him from coming to the collation center and insisting that the true results be announced failed.
Another interesting fact about the biased activities of INEC in favour of the PDP during the re-run elections was the circulation of two lists of INEC adhoc staff, both strangely prepared and approved by INEC.
The first list, which was the authentic list, was of a carefully selected and trained staff of INEC and staff of the Federal Polytechnic, Mubi. They were sent out to the field and actually collated the results before they were mysteriously substituted by another list forwarded on the official letterhead of the VC of the Modibbo Adama University, who is a well-known protégé of the governor of Adamawa State.
They came back with a different result from the one submitted by the authentic adhoc staff. The fact that that list was received and used, was a clear proof that INEC was biased in favour of PDP. We are in possession of both lists.
To my mind, that is another reason why INEC is working overtime trying to prevent the former Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Barrister Hudu, from testifying before the Adamawa State Governorship Elections Petitions Tribunal.
They are afraid of the revelations he would make. Their desperation is so brazen that Justice Manji was forced to openly question INEC’s lawyer, “why are you in a hurry to get Hudu arrested, while there is a clear court order against that?”
To my mind also, that is the same reason that Police Force Headquarters, the Louis Edet House, under the former IGP, shot itself in the foot when it doctored the earlier investigative report into the Adamawa elections that found no indictable offences against Bar. Hudu Ari, the Adamawa REC, and Commissioner of Police, M. A. Barde, to another one that they could use to quickly arrest and incarcerate them, so as to make them unavailable as witnesses in the Election Petitions Tribunal. We have copies of both the original report and the doctored one.
We are aware that these are serious charges and have, therefore, refrained from elaborating further on some of the matters because they are before the Adamawa State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal. I have, hence, restricted myself to matters that are in the public domain.
From all the foregoing, any logical and unbiased person can clearly see the high-powered conspiracy to deprive Senator Aishatu Dahiru Binani of her hard-earned victory at the 2023 Adamawa State Gubernatorial Elections, through high-wired and undemocratic means. All we are doing today is to draw the attention of the good people of Adamawa State, and the rest of Nigeria, to the existence of this conspiracy, because it is their willfully expressed desire, through the polls, to have Senator Aishatu Dahiru Binani as their governor, that is being threatened.
We are confident, however, that at the end of the judicial process that is ongoing, the truth will prevail, Senator Aishatu Dahiru Binani will have her stolen mandate back and the people of Adamawa will have their wishes granted.
Finally, I want to take this opportunity to remind us that all Nigerians, and indeed the international community, are keenly waiting to see how the matter is eventually resolved. To this end, let it be known that copies of this press release will be sent to all the embassies and diplomatic missions in Nigeria.
The question as two what or who constitute the G5 takes another report…