I’ll Seek Redress At Appeal Court

The Member Representing Guyuk Constituency at the Adamawa State House of Assembly, Hon. Sunday Peter, has reacted on the judgement of the Election Petition Tribunal which declared his election at 2 polling units inconclusive.

Hon. Sunday Peter, said that there is no cause for alam with the decision of the tribunal and appealed to his teaming supporters, party officials and stakeholders to remain calm as the verdict will not change anything.

The tribunal on Monday invalidated the election of Hon. Sunday Peter at Zabi Sonka polling unit (Code 004) of Purokayo ward and Mararraba polling unit 007 of Kola ward respectively where elections were cancelled due to over voting.

Unit 004 has a total number of 556 registered voters out of which 525 had collected their Permanent Voters Cards (PVC’s), while unit 007 has a total number of 781 voters with 771 PVC’s collected ahead of the 18th March, 2023 poll.

The total number of PVCs collected at Zabi Sonka where the exercise was characterised with over voting stood at 556, while at Mararaba Kola where election was cancelled were 781 PVC’s.

In all, the PVC’s collected at the affected two polling units were 1, 337 higher than the margin of lead as a result of which, the tribunal nullified the elections and ordered the electoral body to conduct re- run within 90 days.

At Zabisonka, the total number of PVC’s collected was 556 and the total number of votes cast was 198, out of which the APC Candidate, Hon. Sunday Peter scored 138 votes, while the PDP Candidate, Hon. Adwawa Donglok polled 57 votes.

The entire election for Guyuk constituency saw Hon. Sunday Peter emerging winner after scoring 16,532, while the former lawmaker, Hon. Adwawa garnered 15,593 as a result of which Hon. Peter was declared winner by the Returning Officer, Prof. J. Aidan.

Mathematically, if 138 voided votes at unit 004 are deducted from 16,532, total number of lawful votes scored during the election by Hon. Peter, he will be left with 16, 394 votes, while Hon. Adwawa will be left 15,536 votes if 57 nullified votes are deducted from 15,593 lawful votes he had garnered.

Likewise, if 15, 536 lawful votes scored by Hon. Adwawa are deducted from 16, 394, the margin of lead will be 858. This means that Hon. Sunday Peter is currently leading with 858 votes ahead of Hon. Adwawa and other candidates who slugged it out during the exercise.

Therefore, if re-run election is to be conducted at the 2 polling units where 1,337 PVC’s were collected, Hon. Sunday Peter will be struggling for roughly 300 votes, while Hon. Adwawa Donglok will be striving for over 1,000 votes.

Recall that during the just concluded election, only 198 out of 556 eligible voters at Zabisonka, and 335 voters out of 781 voters at Mararaba exercised their franchise which brings a total number of 533 voters who were able to vote.

At the moment, nobody is sure whether 533 out of 1,337 eligible voters who had collected their PVC’s will still vote during the supplementary election to be conducted in the next 3 months as ordered by the tribunal.

It could be recalled that in his petition marked: EPT/AD/SHA/5/2023, Hon. Adwawa asked the tribunal to nullify election at 15 polling units including Zabi Sonka unit 004, Mararaba unit 007, Deremina/Lokoro Pry. Sch. 001, Yakwana unit 006, NEPA Office 006, Gwaluram/Gwaluram unit 004.

Others include: Bilasi K. Dagacin Bobini unit 002, Anguwan Fulani Gwalam unit 009, Chirka Lamja 001, Falu Tsikiye 003, Gwasilwa 006, Tholo/Kongla 017, Krista Gwalura unit 013 and Kerau/Dagalim unit 002.

He equally prayed the tribunal to restore no fewer than 92 votes allegedly deducted from his votes at Walukrista/Walu Primary School and Dankal registration area, and sought for an order for supplementary election.

The tribunal however declined to grant all the relifs sought; instead, nullified election at the 2 polling units and ordered for supplementary election while delivering judgement in the petition.

It was based on the foregoing that the former Deputy Speaker of the assembly, Hon. Sunday Peter, stated that he was not afraid of the re-run election, saying that he is ahead with 858 valid votes, and that the judgement is just a distraction.

Hon. Sunday Peter further stated that he is still the member representing Guyuk constituency at the House of Assembly because the law allows him to seek redress at the court of appeal, assuring that either way, he will still emerge victorious.

The APC lawmaker stated that he is very sure of reclaiming his widely acclaimed mandate whichever way pendulum swings, and called on his constituents not to entertain any fear as nobody will snatch their mandate.

By Muhammad B. Muhammad

Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri of Adamawa State says there is no victor and no vanquished in the Tribunal Verdict which upheld his election in the March 18, 2023 Governorship election.

On Monday (yesterday) the Adamawa State Governorship Electoral Petitions Tribunal dismissed the petition filed by Dr. Umar Ardo against Governor Fintiri for lack of merit.

Reacting on the verdict, shortly after his arrival from Abuja at Lamido Aliyu Mustafa International Airport on Tuesday, Governor Fintiri thanked God and the people of the State for giving him the mandate of another four years.

He saluted the judiciary for its courage towards upholding the unanimous decision of Adamawa people and assured his unflinching commitment to delivering dividends of democracy to the citizens.

“We are greatfu to Almighty Allah for giving us the victory and thanking the judiciary for doing its job, ensuring that it consolidates on what God has done in Adamawa through the good people of Adamawa State.

“They only assurance we will give is that there is no winner, no vanquished, Adamawa project is first. We will continue to ensure that we deliver the dividends of democracy to make our people happy and develops the state to the level that is expected,” he said.

Governor Fintiri expressed optimism that the remaining cases awaiting judgement at the Tribunal will also speak the will of the people as according to him, the election that produced him as Governor was free, fair and credible.

The Ministry of Budget, Planning and Multi-lateral Coordination in Bauchi has said that the state government is making concerted efforts to positively impact on the generality of lives of people of the state.

The Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Idris Saleh Giade said, “His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Bauchi state, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed has been trying as much as possible to positively impact on the lives of the people of the state, especially in social services such as food and nutrition”.

The permanent secretary was on yesterday fielding press questions at the venue of the Bauchi State Multi-Sectoral Plan of Action for Nutrition Development workshop, organised by Catalyzing Strengthened Policy Action for Healthy Diets and Resilience (CASCADE) in collaboration with the Bauchi Ministry of Budget, Planning and Multi-lateral Coordination.

Alhaji Idris Giade explained that the objective of the workshop is to have a multi-sectoral plan of action with relevants MDAs in the state whose activities are related to nutrition, hence the work plan to cut across all the MDAs that have complimentary relevance on one platform, which is nutrition.

According to him, the International partners that brought about the CASCADE project to support Bauchi state have a multi-sectoral plan of action for implementation, saying Bauchi state has domesticated the National policy on food and nutrition, and its implementation has already been approved by the State Executive Council (SEC).

“The Council has already approved for the implementation of the domesticated document, the ACFN national policy, and it has been put into implementation. So we’re here to make sure we go through the national multi-sectoral plan of action, to make all the scrutiny that is expected to have a document relevant to the local setting of Bauchi state”.

Gaide gave the relevant state MDAs as the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, State Health Management Board, BASPHCDA, among others, whose representatives as workshop participants are all in Plateau state for the occasion.

Also speaking to the press, the CASCADE Project manager, Mr. Isaac Ishaya Audu said that CASCADE as a program has the particular interest around strengthening multi-sectoral coordination in food and nutrition service delivery in Bauchi state.

“To achieve that, we have the national multi-sectoral plan of action that has come into play, to be a key driver in terms of leading implementation of food and nutrition policies in the country”, Audu said.

Audu further stated, “So for Bauchi, our particular interest is to ensure that a multi-sectoral plan of action for food and nutrition is actually used as a driving template to lead actors in terms of implementation of food and nutrition service delivery.”

The manager also stated that CASCADE keeps particular interest around maximising technical and financial investment specifically around food and nutrition service delivery, as it has multiple layers of actors and donor investments going into nutrition.

“But how can those investments be maximised to drive efficient results. If we can have a multi-sectoral cost plan of action to drive that process, it will significantly maximise the cost investment and guide actors who are leading most of those investments process in terms of achieving results”, Audu concluded.