The recently re-elected Governor of Adamawa State, Ahmadu Fintiri, and his Deputy Governor-elect, Prof Kaletapwa Farauta, have officially received their certificates of return in a ceremony held in Abuja.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) presented the certificates to the elected officials at its national headquarters on Wednesday evening.
Fintiri, representing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), emerged as the winner of a supplementary election held on Saturday in Adamawa State, defeating Senator Aishatu ‘Binani’ Dahiru of the All Progressives Congress (APC). In total, Fintiri received 430,861 votes, while Binani got 398,738 votes.
However, the announcement of the election results was not without controversy. The initial election held last month was declared inconclusive by INEC, leading to a supplementary election. During the collation of results, the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Hudu Yunusa Ari, prematurely declared Binani as the winner, which was against the provisions of the Electoral Act. This was followed by an acceptance speech by the APC candidate.
In response, INEC quickly stated that the declaration was of no effect, and Fintiri was ultimately declared the winner of the election. Despite these challenges, Fintiri and Farauta have received their certificates of return, marking the official beginning of their next term in office.