The electoral commission in Nigeria’s northern Adamawa state declared the incumbent governor the winner of a disputed election on Tuesday. This basically eliminated the possibility of the ruling party’s nominee becoming Nigeria’s first elected female governor.
Two days after the preliminary results were announced, with Aisha Dahiru of the ruling All Progressives Congress party declared the winner, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Ahmadu Fintiri the winner instead.
Nigerians went to the polls on March 18 to pick governors for their individual states. However, the election in Adamawa, a mostly conservative Muslim state, was close enough to necessitate extra voting on Saturday.
According to the INEC, the Adamawa election commissioner has been suspended and will face prosecution for announcing Dahiru the winner before the results from half of the districts had been tabulated.
Dahiru has been lauded as a pioneer who may inspire other Nigerian women to seek public office.
Nigeria’s president is normally elected with the backing of the country’s governors. The annual budgets of certain governors’ states are bigger than those of numerous small African countries.
Following a difficult presidential election on February 25 that was finally won by the ruling party’s Bola Tinubu, Tuesday’s results marked the conclusion of this year’s election cycle.
