The resident electoral commissioner Adamawa State, Mr. Kassim Gaidam, has said that only voters with permanent voter cards (PVCs) will be allowed into voting centres in the places where the supplementary governorship election will hold tomorrow, Thursday, March 28.
Speaking in Yola yesterday, Gaidam said the decision to hold the supplementary poll was taken after due consultation with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) headquarters in Abuja.
He said efforts were being made with the various security agencies to ensure that the violence, which characterised supplementary election in some other states, would not be replicated in Adamawa.
The supplementary governorship election in the state was slated for 44 polling units in 14 local government areas but could not hold on March 23, which it was originally scheduled following a court injunction.
The already collated results showed that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Mr. Umar Fintiri, polled votes of 367,471 while his opponent and incumbent All Progressives Congress (APC) governor, Mr. Muhammed Bindow, got 334,995 votes.
The margin of lead is 32,476 votes, which is smaller than 40,988 representing the total number of registered voters in the 44 polling units where results were cancelled.
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.
At the sitting yesterday, the court presided over by Justice Abdul’Aziz Waziri ruled that it has the jurisdiction to hear the case.
Meanwhile, results declared by INEC showed that the PDP won 13 state assembly seats while the APC and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) won 11 and one respectively.
The PDP had 11 seats after the March 9 house of assembly poll and won Nassarawo-Binyeri and Uba/Gaya constituencies during the rescheduled March 23 legislative poll.
The PDP candidates were declared winners in Yola North, Numan, Demsa, Lamurde, Guyuk, Michika, Madagali, Hong, Gombi, Song Jada-Mbulo, Nassarawo-Binyeri and Uba-Gaya.
The APC won in Yola South, Girei, Fufore-Gurin, Fufore-Verre, Leko-Koma, Mubi North, Mubi- South, Maiha, Shelleng, Toungo and Ganye while ADC won in Mayo-Belwa constituency.
Before the elections, the ruling APC had 23 seats in the assembly with the PDP having only two.
The APC lost two of the three senatorial seats to the PDP.
Messrs Ishiaku Cliff and Benos Yero defeated the APC’s senators Binta Masi Garba and Ahmad Mo-Allayidi to emerge winners in the Northern and Southern senatorial districts respectively.
