The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) presented a certificate of return to Ahmadu Fintiri, the governor-elect of Adamawa state, and his deputy governor-elect, Kaletapwa Farauta, at the INEC headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday.

This followed the declaration of Fintiri as the winner of the Adamawa governorship election on Tuesday. Fintiri, who ran on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), secured 430,861 votes to defeat Aisha ‘Binani’ Dahiru, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who garnered 398,788 votes.

Prior to the final declaration on Tuesday, the governorship election in the state had been declared inconclusive by INEC, and a supplementary election was conducted on April 15. However, controversy arose during the collation of the supplementary election results when Hudu Yunusa-Ari, the resident electoral commissioner (REC) in the state, declared Binani as the winner of the election in the absence of the returning officer, Mele Lamido.

Lamido, who is empowered by law to declare the winner of the election, was not present during Yunusa-Ari’s announcement. INEC subsequently suspended the collation exercise and asked Yunusa-Ari to stay away from the office, sparking controversy over the validity of the declared results.