A state high court in Yola has barred the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from conducting the supplementary governorship election for which it scheduled March 23 in Adamawa State.
The Adamawa State High Court, presided by Justice Abdulaziz Waziri, granted an interim injunction barring INEC from conducting the supplementary polls in the 44 polling units where voting either did not hold during the March 9 governorship election or was cancelled
The high court judgement was sequel to a suit filed by the governorship candidate of the Movement for the Restoration and Defence of Democracy (MRRD), Rev Eric Theman, who questioned non-inclusion of his party logo for the governorship election by INEC.
The Adamawa governorship election had been declared inconclusive by INEC on Monday morning after it collated results from the 21 LGAs of the state and arrived at a margin of lead between the two leading parties to be lower than the number of registered voters in polling units where voting was cancelled.
The commission announced Tuesday that it would conduct a supplementary election on March 23 in the affected polling units, but a sign that the current suit might come up emerged the day after the election, March 10, when the MRDD candidate cried out that his party logo was not on the ballot paper, and urged INEC to cancel the election.
“I reject the election and urge INEC to stop the process of announcing the results immediately. My party is not on the ballot paper and I will reject whatever is the outcome,” Theman had said.
