The All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Adamawa, Aisha ‘Binani’ Dahiru has denied paying a two billion naira bribe to INEC to announce her as the winner of last Saturday’s elections in the state. But she rather disclosed that what happened in Adamawa was an unsuccessful attempt to subvert the will of the people in the state.
Aisha ‘Binani’ Dahiru, was accused of giving a sum of N2 billion as a bribe to an official of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to be declared the winner.
In a statement made available to the press, Binani said: “I never did, I would never do such.
“What happened in Adamawa was an unsuccessful attempt to subvert the will of the people. The REC was illegally told to stand down by two INEC national commissioners from Abuja who were supposed to be in Adamawa in a supervisory capacity.
“Even more curious is the nocturnal visit of some INEC national officers to the Adamawa state government house and the bizarre declaration the same day after the visit that they have taken over the collation through the backdoor with the collation and returning officers selected by the governor of Adamawa.
“The roles of these INEC officers from Abuja and the real mission of the two to the government house should be of interest to all democrats.
“I urge all lovers of democracy to take a deeper interest in our electoral process and democracy not only in Adamawa but in the whole country.”
Remember that the Adamawa governorship supplementary election was held on Saturday after the March 18 election was deemed inconclusive due to purported irregularities.
However, following the announcement of the results from 10 LGAs, the collation of election results was postponed till Sunday.
In an unexpected turn of events, Hudu Yunusa-Ari, the resident electoral commissioner (REC) of the INEC, pronounced Binani the victor before the results from the other LGAs were made public.
Following her announcement, there were rumours that Binani had paid N2 billion to INEC officials so that she could be declared the election’s winner.
Later, INEC called off the contest and declared his actions to be invalid, stating that it is the duty of the returning officer to declare a winner.
The Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) Ahmadu Fintiri was proclaimed the legitimate winner by the Commission on Tuesday after the collation of the state’s election results was reconvened.
Binani, however, refuted claims that he had given N2 billion to “procure a favourable declaration as governor-elect to some unnamed INEC staff” in a statement released on Tuesday.
The study makes “very bizarre, unfounded, and wild allegations,” in Binani’s words.
