The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has fixed Thursday, March 28 for the Adamawa State governorship supplementary poll
The decision to hold the rerun on Thursday followed the vacation of the order against the election by the Adamawa State High Court at a sitting in Yola earlier in the day.
It would be recalled that after the conduct of the governorship election on March 9, the candidate of the Movement for the Restoration and Defense of Democracy (MRDD), Rev Eric Theman, went to the court to allege omission of the MRDD logo from the ballot paper, and asked the court to annul the election and stop the rerun already announced for units where voting was cancelled.
The court immediately granted an injunction to stop the rerun and continued proceedings to rule on arguments raised at subsequent sittings, including the court’s jurisdiction over the case.
“I hereby make the following orders: The defendant herein the Independent National Electoral Commission is restrained whether by themselves, their agents, servants, representatives, nominees or any other person from proceeding with the supplementary election with respect to Adamawa State Governorship pending the hearing and determination of motion on notice,” said Justice Abdulazeez Waziri
At the sitting on Tuesday morning, Waziri ruled that the court has jurisdiction and lifted the injunction against the supplementary election, and adjourned to Wednesday, March 27 to rule on the motion by the MRDD for the annulment of the March 9 election.
Announcing the rerun in Yola today, the resident electoral commissioner, Barrister Kassiam Gaidem, said: “The court has this morning vacated the order restraining INEC from going ahead with the conduct of the supplementary election, consequently, the commission is now free to go ahead and conclude the elections as was done in other states of the federation.
As a result of this development, the commission at the highest level in consultation with security agencies has decided that the supplementary elections should hold on Thursday, March 28, 2019. The elections will go on as was arranged,” he said.
