The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Adamawa governorship election, Aisha Binani Dahiru and the Party have filed a motion exparte before the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking a judicial review of the administrative decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on April 16 in respect of her declaration as the winner of the polls held on March 18 and the supplementary poll of April 15.
A copy of the application which was brought pursuant to Order 34 rules 1a, order 3(1) & 3(2) a, b, c, Order 6 of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure Rules) 2019 and Section 251 (1)q & r of the 1999 Constitution, as well as Section 149 & 152 of the Electoral Act 2022.
The application explained that INEC’s cancellation of the initial declaration means it is usurping the powers of the election petition, being the only court vested with powers to do so from the conduct of an election.
In the grounds under which the application is brought, the Senator added that after the collation of results, INEC (which she sued as the first respondent), declared her as the winner of the elections but the People Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate Governor Ahmadu Fintiri who was sued as the 2nd & 3rd respondents resorted to fighting and causing a public disturbance which led to the beating and manhandling of an INEC staff.
This crisis, she says, led INEC to cancel the initial declaration which it had no power to do as only the election petition tribunal is vested with such powers.
However, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on Monday staged a protest calling on INEC to continue collating results.
