The Supreme Court, Tuesday, threw out an appeal by the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the 2023 gubernatorial vote in Adamawa State, Senator Aisha Dahiru Binani, and her party, for lacking in merit.
Binani had wanted to unseat Alhaji Umar Ahmadu Fintiri as the duly elected governor of Adamawa State. After failing at the tribunal and appeal court levels, she took her ambition to the apex court.
But in a unanimous judgment, delivered on Wednesday by Justice John Inyang Okoro, the Supreme Court held that Binani’s appeal was bereft of merit and consequently quashed it.
Binani had, through her lawyer, Chief Akin Olujimi (SAN), asked the five-member panel of Justices to invoke section 152 of the Electoral Act 2022 to declare her as the lawfully elected governor of Adamawa State.
Olujimi pushed his argument hard that the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) who pronounced his client as winner of the March 18, 2023 Governorship election had powers under the Electoral Act to do what he did.
Olujinmi insisted that as a staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the REC cannot be faulted for making a declaration in the election he superintendent over.
But Fintiri’s lawyer, Damian Dodo (SAN), asked the court to thrash Benani’s argument in its entirety, describing it as ‘baseless and against the provisions of the law.’
Countering Olujimi, Dodo submitted, among others, that the Resident Electoral Commissioner lacked the power to make a declaration on the election, adding that the only person vested with the power to do so was the Returning Officer.
He explained that the REC who made the unlawful declaration refused to show up at the Adamawa State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal to give evidence and justify his actions.
