A failed civil coup against Governor Fintiri is met by the bitter grins of his inner circle, led by Judas Iscariot.
The gubernatorial election in Adamawa in 2023 began with extraordinary surprises. It irritated the system and sparked a storm. The All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Aisha Dahiru, nicknamed Binani, was accused of bribing the rogue Adamawa state resident electoral commissioner, Yunusa Hari Hudu.
While the Adamawa governorship election has been won and lost. Many Nigerians will not forget the dramatic change of events, particularly the attempted electoral coup. The coincidences raise a slew of troubling questions.
The heightened tension and worry surrounding the supplemental election undoubtedly put Dahiru under severe scrutiny, casting a dark cloud over her reputation. Observers argue that Binani’s harmful actions and inaction have fuelled the current wave of conspiracy beliefs.
The most upsetting occurrence was Yunusa Ari, the now-suspended Adamawa Resident Electoral Commissioner, prematurely declaring Binani the winner of the gubernatorial race.
Binani’s side erupted in early victory celebrations on the streets and on social media, despite the fact that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had not completed the collation of results and formally declared the winner, throwing doubt on the entire process.
Binani’s electoral momentum trended with various words and photos, with wonderful endorsements in her favour. An outpouring of congratulations flooded in for her. However, many people were disappointed in the end.
Binani trailed Fintiri by more than 31,000 votes in the first round of the election, held on March 18. INEC deemed the exercise inconclusive because the margin of lead did not surpass the number of cancelled votes in 69 polling units with 37,016 voters.
Apart from Yunusa and Binani, a handful of members of the PDP in Adamawa were completely involved in anti-party actions, which resulted in the party begging for votes rather than trouncing Binani with landslide votes in the state’s 21 local government areas.
The Finder was reliably informed as to why the PDP chieftains turned a blind eye and why Hudu Yunusa and certain disloyal returning officers of the local government were instructed to add extra votes at the ward collation office or local government collation office for Binani to defeat Fintiri.
The Fufore story reveals all of their nefarious machinations to depose Fintiri through a civil coup in collaboration with Judas, who surrounds that governor, eating and dining with him when their civil coup plots fail. The so-called result compiled and rejected by the Binani group from Fufore was referred to as a lie, as the IREV results show that 2000 extra votes were added to Binani by INEC employees while PDP members remained silent.
For God’s sake, if PDP members are completely loyal to the government, how can Hudu use their votes to boost the APC candidate? There is more to Adamawa than meets the eye; where were PDP agents when the governor’s votes were repressed in order to add additional votes to the APC?
Why did Judas remain silent around the governor when the ovation was the loudest? Governor Fintiri, in all its ramifications, has developed Adamawa State; there is no doubt about that. One may be forced to look at Governor Makinde of Oyo State; despite the stiff opposition of the APC in the southwest, he trounces his opponent with a wide margin, and no INEC can be used to truncate his mandate.
Prominent members of the PDP lost their unit, ward, and local government. Of what value are these fellows to the PDP in Adamawa and Nigeria? In every local government in Adamawa, Fintiri has commissioners and a host of other appointees, yet Yunusa Hudu, in cohort with some returning officers, decided to add votes to the governor’s opponents without any hassle.
Why will Governor Fintiri allow these money mongers to continue to cheer him with eye service when they lost their real value at the polling units and wards? If Fintiri’s appointees won their polling units and all PDP chieftains won their polling units and wards, where will the rogue REC, Hudu Yunusa, lay his hands on having manufactured over 37,000 votes for Binani?
I expect Fintiri to defeat APC in Adamawa with the same margin of lead between Atiku and Tinubu in the presidential election; however, due to the anti-party activities of some disgruntled PDP members in Adamawa, Fintiri is struggling for votes, and Hudu Yunusa uses the opportunity to lay waste to the governor. God’s intervention saved democracy in Adamawa and Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the Adamawa Intergrity Forum has urged Governor Fintiri not to spare the betrayals surrounding him, claiming that the betrayer will hatch another plan in 2027.
Samson Pwanabeshi admonished the governor to immediately relieve those saboteurs around him. Samson thanked the people of Michika, Madagali, Numan, Hong, and Demsa for bringing out large votes for the governor, as most of the margins between the governor and his opponents are tiny if results from Hong, Michika, Demsa, and Lamurde are not included.
Hudu’s rigging strategy was to install Binani while the results of the April 15 supplemental election were being tallied. Ari acted as the returning officer and declared the APC candidate, Binani, the winner, causing a commotion.
Binani’s victory against five male candidates for the APC’s ticket to become the first female flag bearer of any political party in Adamawa attracted applause from all sides, particularly women. Aisha Alhassan, the late former Minister of Women’s Affairs, was the first to walk along this route. She ran as the APC’s governorship candidate in Taraba State in 2015.
Despite losing the election to Ishaku Darius, she disputed his victory at the court of appeals and the Supreme Court, but she was unsuccessful. During Binani’s campaign, the giddy excitement with which she moved from town to town, entourage in tow, seeking blessings and endorsements, established her as one of the country’s most prominent women. In fact, incumbent Governor Fintiri was well aware that re-election would be difficult. Binani’s terror was the beginning of his political wisdom. Binani’s political opponents, both inside and outside the state, were not pleased with her choice.
Many have questioned the display of shame in Adamawa, where the key political actors’ behaviour bordered on breaking the rules in order to impose a winner. No woman has ever been elected as a state governor in the United States. The only other female politician who became governor did not do it through a formal election. Virginia Etiaba was the Deputy Governor of Anambra State, and she served as governor for only three months. Etiaba took over as governor when the previous governor, Peter Obi, was impeached for alleged severe misconduct.
When the impeachment was overturned by an appeals court three months later, she returned her powers to Obi. Binani, driven by ambition, seems willing to go to any length to become Nigeria’s first elected female governor. She hoped to break the glass ceiling in politics, but it would be a difficult battle. In the end, her main opponent, incumbent Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, defeated her and gained a second term in office.