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Court asks INEC to conduct supplementary election in Adamawa

A High Court sitting in Yola has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to proceed with the supplementary election in Adamawa state.

The court had previously restrained INEC from conducting the exercise based on a suit filed by the governorship candidate of the Movement For Restoration and Defense for Democracy (MRDD), Mustafa Shaba.

Shaba had sued the commission over the absence of his party’s logo on the ballot paper of the election held on March 9, 2019, that was declared inconclusive.

“I hereby grant the following order: ‘the defendant the INEC is restrain whether by themselves, their executives, servants, privies, representative, nominees or any other person or persons from proceeding with the supplementary election in respect of Adamawa pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice,” Abdulazeez Waziri, the presiding judge, had ruled.

When the substantive hearing of the suit commenced on Thursday, March 21, INEC's counsel, Tanimu Inuwa (SAN), urged the court to discharge the injunction on grounds that it has no jurisdiction to entertain the case.

He argued that as a federal agency, only a federal court could issue such an injunction against INEC.

He further noted that the MRDD should never have approached the court because the issue before it should have been tabled before the election petition tribunal after the electoral process has been concluded.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Umaru Fintiri, also filed separate motions before the court to be joined in the suit.

MRDD's counsel, Yemi Pitan, prayed the court to order INEC to conduct a fresh election as the commission had no power to disqualify its candidate, Eric Theman, from the race.

Adamawa governorship election

Following the conduct of the March 9 election, INEC declared the Adamawa governorship race inconclusive because the lead margin was lower than the total number of votes cancelled in certain areas.

With 367,471 votes, Fintiri was in the lead over the incumbent governor, Jibrilla Bindow, of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who polled 334,995 votes, but the margin of 32,476 votes was lower than the 40,988 votes cancelled in 44 polling units.

According to the "Margin of Lead Principle" contained in Sections 26 and 53 of the Electoral Act and paragraph 41(e) and 43(b) of the INEC Regulations and Guidelines, the commission cannot declare a winner if the number of cancelled votes can mathematically affect the outcome of the election.

The supplementary election will take place only in the polling units where elections were cancelled.

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