Atiku Abubakar, the Presidential Candidate of PDP in 2023 general elections, has expressed his displeasure at the drama that characterised Adamawa governorship poll, claiming the people of the area won’t suffer fool gladly this third time.
The incumbent, Ahmadu Fintiri of the PDP was coasting home to victory, but out of the blues, the State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Hudu Ari, usurped the power of the Returning Officer, Professor Mohammed Mele, and announced the results in favour of Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed of the All Progressives Congress.
The decision met with wide objection with the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, overruling it.
It also happened that Ari on account of his improprieties was given the beating of his life by thugs, stripped to his pant, with a video of the moment currently trending online.
Weighing in on the matter, the former Vice President by a statement from his Media Adviser, Paul Ibe, condemned the REC’s act, warning that the people of the state would not condone injustice this time around.
It reads in part, “Here in Adamawa, we are witnesses to a novel practice in election management where a Resident Electoral Commissioner announced the loser of an election as a winner.
“It is not in doubt that INEC has approached the Adamawa State election with a preset agenda of declaring the APC at all cost.
“It is, therefore, on this note that we wish to call the attention of the world to the scheme being perpetrated by INEC to compromise the electoral wishes of the people of Adamawa State.
“We also wish to inform the world that such behaviour by INEC has a natural consequence of unsettling the peace and security of the society.
“We have seen how INEC conducted the February 25 and March 18 elections against the run of play and challenging cheated candidates to go to the court, knowing full well the agenda that they are up to.
“It must be put on record that the people of Adamawa State will not allow themselves to cheated three times in a row. It must also be put on record that whatever the consequences of the scheme being scripted, both the INEC and those vested with state powers should be blamed for the consequences of such actions.
“That the APC candidate has a prepared acceptance speech is a pointer to the guarantee of a false victory which the INEC must have promised her.
“Recall that this was the same Resident Electoral Commissioner who pressured the Returning Officer to manipulate the results of the contentious Fufore Local Government Area in the March 18 governorship election.
“The people of Adamawa shall not allow this injustice to pass without being challenged.
“We demand the immediate resumption of the collation of results and its finalisation today.
“It is also our demand that the Adamawa REC and any other parties complicit in this treasonable act should be arrested immediately and prosecuted to the full extent of the law to serve as a deterrent to anti-democratic forces who may want to torpedo our democracy and provoke violence in our country.”
