It was sweet victory for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) thursday as its candidate in the Adamawa State governorship tussle, Alhaji Ahmadu Fintiri, finally subdued the incumbent governor, Alhaji Jubrilla Bindow of the All Progressives Congress (APC), winning all the 44 units in 14 local government areas and 29 registration areas where supplementary election was held in the state.
The Returning Officer, Professor Andrew Haruna, said Fintiri scored 376,552 votes to beat Bindow, who garnered 336,386 votes.
“Ahmadu Fintiri of the PDP, having satisfied the requirement of the law and scored the highest number of votes is hereby declared the winner and returned as elected governor of Adamawa State,” he said.
He said the governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Senator Abdulazeez Nyako, came third with 113,237 votes, while the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Chief Emmanuel Bello, scored 29,792 votes to clinch the fourth position in the race.
Haruna explained that the total number of registered voters was 1,973,083; accredited votes were 905,346; total valid votes were 871,307; rejected votes were 27,790 and total number of votes cast was 899,097.
Fintiri’s journey to victory was abbreviated on March 9 when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the contest in Adamawa State inconclusive, saying his margin of lead over the incumbent governor was less than the total number of cancelled votes spread over 14 LGAs and 29 RAs where elections were cancelled due to violence and sundry electoral issues.
But at the resumption of proceedings yesterday, Fintiri put his supremacy beyond doubt, winning emphatically all the 44 units the extra election was held.
His party quickly congratulated him this morning, saying though the victory was delayed, the outcome of the supplementary polls showed he was the clear choice of the people.
“We congratulate our Ahmadu Fintiri on his victory,” the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, told THISDAY, adding: “It is an outcome that we have always known to be certain.”
