Fintiri’s commissioner wins state assembly bye-election in Adamawa

The Independent National Electoral Commission has declared the PDP Candidate, Musa Mahmud (Kallamu), the winner of Saturday’s bye-election for the Mayo-below state constituency in Adamawa State.

Kallamu, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, had narrowly lost the state Assembly seat to Ibrahim Italiya of the All Progressive Congress after the latter polled 7912 to defeat the PDP candidate, who scored 7840 with a slim margin of 72 votes, separating the duo.

Kallamu, later appointed into the cabinet of Governor Ahmadu Fintiri as commissioner of Transport, went to court to seek redress over the declaration of his opponent as the winner of that election despite the polls being fraught with irregularities.

However, the appellate court, which ruled in favor of the PDP candidate, had ordered a rerun election in seven polling units with 5025 total registered voters.

The INEC  returning officer for the bye-election, prof. Mohammed Baba Ardo of Modibbo Adama University, Yola, who declared the election results at the collation center in Mayo-belwa local government area on Saturday, returned Kallamu as the duly elected legislator for the state constituency seat after he polled 1306 votes to defeat Ibrahim Italiya, who polled 874 votes during the bye-election.

According to prof Ardo, PDP’s candidate, Musa Mahmud, won six out of seven polling units in the bye-election.

The returning officer who computed the result of the court-ordered re-run and that of the March 2023 general elections to arrive at the winner explained that there were a total of 5024 registered votes in the areas where the bye-elections are due to be held.

He said 2252 were the total accredited votes, 2192 were valid votes, and 08 were rejected votes, while 2252 remained the total votes cast during the election.

According to him, “In the 2023 election, the APC candidate got 7912 while the PDP candidate scored 7840 to establish a margin of win by 72 votes. But from the rerun polls, which were held in seven polling units with a total of 5024 registered votes, the PDP candidate polled 1306 votes to defeat Ibrahim Italiya, who polled 874 votes during the bye-election.

“Thus, computing the final results, the PDP candidate, Musa Mahmud (Kallamu), scored a total of 9146 votes and won the bye-election while an APC candidate, Ibrahim Musa (Italiya), had 8,788 votes in both the general and bye-elections. Musa Mahmud of PDP, having satisfied the requirements of the electoral act, therefore declared the winner and returned elected.”

Speaking shortly to a team of journalists, the member-elect Mayo-belwa constituency, Musa Mahmud, thanked his constituents for their support and pledged to justify the confidence reposed in him.