Four political parties in Adamawa State, the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Young Progressives Party (YPP), Action Alliance (AA) and the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) have accused the Federal Government and its Agencies of compromising the electoral process to pave way for the emergence of Sen. Aishatu Dahiru Binani as the next governor of the state.
The spokesman of the four political parties and Gubernatorial candidate of the SDP, Dr. Umar Ardo at a press conference in Yola has said that the entire Adamawa electorates have lost confidence in the entire electoral process giving the pronouncements made by President Buhari in respect of Binani’s candidacy.
“The president called on Adamawa people to elect her and emphasized that he as the president, the party and federal government are by her. We would have no problem with such broadcast because the president is at liberty to support the candidate of his party but the fallout of the broadcast is adversely affecting the credibility and the integrity of the election,” he said.
Ardo noted that the open support being enjoyed by the only female candidate has turned her to the lord of the manor and gave her the leverage to dictate and give directives to federal government agencies responsible for the success of the polls.
“The open support of the president has turned the candidate of APC in Adamawa State as far as this election is concerned into the lord of the manor. She seem to be the only candidate that all the federal agencies are leaning towards. We have seen the security agencies are at her beck and call, NBC and INEC officials are also at her beck and call.
“We have it as a fact that her meetings with these agencies virtually directing how they should conduct their affairs. We have on record four different meetings she held especially with INEC officials. Arising from these meetings from the sketchy reports we have, she seems to be directing the postings of election officers, presiding officers and others who are directly in control of the BVAS.
“If the candidate of a political party will be given such access to the officials that conduct the election, then there is huge problem. And also more devastating is that INEC itself, six months after Sen Binani emerged as the candidate of APC, she was awarded a contract for the production of governorship results sheet. The contract is to the tune of N432m.
“Even though Adamawa is not included in the list of the states, the fact that she is producing results sheet gives her inside and access into the workings of INEC and into the production and distribution of INEC sensitive materials.
“This is a huge advantage given to her by INEC itself. The money given to her will give her a huge financial advantage over other candidates and she was given the contract six months after emerging candidate of the APC .
“We should forget talking about free and fair election in Adamawa as the election has already been compromised by INEC long before the election is conducted. The fact that the president made the broadcast has tilted all agencies towards her”, he argued.
The Spokesman has accused Binani of openly vowing to steal the election since she has the backing of the law courts. He also accused her of bragging that she single handedly brought the new Redident Electoral Commissioner of Adamawa to do her bidding during the election.
“She is going around saying that she brought the REC through the minister of education. And she is bragging saying that even by stealing she will win the election we have the video clips. She stated that what she wants is for INEC to declare her the winner and she will handle the rest. APC guvernorship candidate is being backed by the president security, INEC and NBC,” he said.
He noted that because of her desperation to get power at all cost, Binani has circumvented the electoral act by incurring expenditure higher than the spending ceiling contained in the act.
In his own words, “In one fell sw
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