I ran against strong men in Abuja not Binani – Finitri

The incumbent Governor of Adamawa State, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, has said that his reelection was against powerful people in Abuja who were hellbent on imposing a new governor on the people of the state.

The governor noted that he did not contest against Aishatu Dahiru (Binani) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) but against the “whole system”.

According to Finitri, while speaking on Channels Television’s political programme, Politics Today, on Tuesday night, he “contested against those who feel they own Nigeria from Abuja and they feel they can make Adamawa a scapegoat”.

Finitri was declared winner of the governorship election in his state. The returning officer of the election, Professor Muhammed Mele, said the governor polled a total of 430,861 votes. Binani polled a total of 396,788 votes.

The electoral commission had suspended results collation on Sunday, following the unlawful declaration of Binani as the winner of the election in the state by the now-suspended Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Barr Hudu Yunusa Ari.

While speaking about the saga, Fintiri said: “I don’t think I have run against any woman in Adamawa State, I ran against enemies of democracy outside Adamawa State.

“I contested against the whole system, I contested against those who feel they own Nigeria from Abuja and they feel they can make Adamawa a scapegoat.

“Even in the election, I didn’t go into the election against the woman, I went into the election against INEC. The whole presiding officers that were conducting the election, all of them were APC members.”

He said his performance in the last four years was what stood for him against the alleged enemies of democracy in Abuja.