Nigeria’s Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo SAN, has celebrated the illegal declaration of the Adamawa State governorship candidate, Aisha Dahiru, as ‘governor-elect’.
“Just woke up in the US to this wonderful news. I am screaming my head off here! This is such a glass-shattering watershed for the women of Nigeria! Huge congratulations to my sister, Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed (Binani). At a point in the struggle we were speaking like a dozen times a day on phone!
“Special thanks to all those who worked so hard for this; special thanks to the good people of Adamawa State for smashing this hoodoo of gender bias; special thanks to the APC for making this possible; special thanks to President Muhammadu Buhari for providing such sterling leadership; special thanks to Nigerians for your support and prayers! Now, for the women of Nigeria, please go ye forth and conquer!” Mr Keyamo, an APC presidential camapaign spokesperson wrote.
Aside from the junior Minister, the Nigeria’s ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), also celebrated the illegality.
The APC on Sunday used its verified Twitter account to post a congratulatory message to Mrs Dahiru, popularly called Binani, who was “illegally” declared as the winner of the governorship election, even though the collation process was still ongoing.
“Breaking: @inecnigeria has declared Senator Aishatu Dahiru Binani the winner of the Adamawa State governorship election.
Binani is the first elected female Governor in Nigeria,” the tweet reads.
However, the electoral body, INEC, has declared the results as “illegal” because the wrong official announced the results and declared the winner.
INEC, in a statement by its National Commissioner, Information & Voter Education, Festus Okoye, described its Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Adamawa, Yunusa Ari, as a “usurper” for declaring the result. The commission also called for the suspension of the process.
“The action of the REC is a usurpation of the power of the Returning Officer. It is null, void and of no effect. Consequently, the collation of results of the supplementary election is hereby suspended,” the commission wrote.
The tweets: