At the commission’s national headquarters in Abuja, all National Commissioners of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) met behind closed doors.
Just 24 hours prior, the electoral umpire had instructed Hudu Yunusa Ari, its Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Adamawa State, to refrain from participating in any electoral umpire-related activities including the state election.
Aisha “Binani” Dahiru of the All Progressives Congress (APC) defeated incumbent Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Saturday’s supplementary poll, according to the INEC REC, who made the announcement at around 9am on Sunday.
Ari was promptly summoned to Abuja by INEC, which deemed his pronouncement to be unlawful and an abuse of the collation and returning officer’s authority.
Results from 10 LGAs had been announced before the collation procedure was stopped on Saturday night, and Binani was behind Fintiri.
Mele Lamido, the returning officer for the Adamawa governorship election, was not present when Ari proclaimed Binani as the winner of the poll. The collation of results from the remaining 10 LGAs was scheduled to begin by 11am on Sunday.