Supreme Court Reserves Judgment On Binani’s Suit Against Governor Fintiri
The Supreme Court has reserved judgment in the appeal by the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in the 2023 governorship election, Aisha Dahiru, against the election of Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Fintiri.
After hearing the parties’ arguments, a five-member panel chaired by Justice John Okoro at the Supreme Court on Monday, January 29, postponed the judgment.
The state Election Petition Tribunals and the Court of Appeal denied Binani’s appeals, contesting Finitiri’s victory in the gubernatorial election.
On December 18, 2023, the Court of Appeal in Abuja affirmed Fintiri’s victory in the poll.
The court dismissed a petition by the APC and Dahiru, known as Binani.
Dahiru and the APC, in their petition, sought to nullify Fintiri’s election as the governor of Adamawa State.
In its judgment, the court held that the tribunal was right in proclaiming Fintiri as the poll winner.
In October 2023, the tribunal dismissed Dahiru’s petition against Fintiri’s election.
Dahiru, in her petition, which had the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Fintiri and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the first, second and third respondents, alleged that the election was not substantially compliant with the Electoral Act.
Binani and APC jointly filed the petition on May 6, 2023, alleging that the election conducted first on March 18, 2023, and the rerun on April 15, were marred by thuggery, ballot papers snatching, and harassment of electoral officers.
However, after delivering the judgement on October 28, the tribunal chairman, T. O. Uloho, dismissed the petition and affirmed Fintiri’s victory.
Uloho said the petitioners failed to establish their allegations of non-compliance with the Electoral Act.
She said all documents tendered by the petitioners were dumped on the tribunal and that their star witness did not link any documents with their material allegations.
The tribunal held that the petitioners failed to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt.
On April 18, 2023, INEC declared Fintiri the winner of the governorship election after a supplementary election was held to conclude the process, which was initially declared inconclusive.
