From Umar Dankano, Yola
Candidates of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) who contested the recently concluded local government elections in Adamawa State have rejected the outcome of the polls, describing the exercise as a “charade” and demanding fresh elections across the state’s 21 local government areas.
Speaking at a press conference in Yola on Monday, the group’s spokesperson, Hon. Abubakar Ahmadu, alleged that the election conducted by the Adamawa State Independent Electoral Commission (ADSIEC) fell short of democratic standards and lacked the basic ingredients of a credible electoral process.
The aggrieved candidates, comprising 14 chairmanship and 128 councillorship aspirants cleared by ADSIEC to participate in the election, maintained that no voting took place on the scheduled date despite extensive preparations by political parties and candidates.
“We wish to state emphatically that elections did not hold in any of the local government councils across the state on June 13, 2026. There was no election conducted in Adamawa State on the said date. We therefore wonder how results were compiled and how winners emerged,” Ahmadu said.
The candidates accused the electoral commission of undermining democracy, alleging that the announced results did not reflect the will of the people.
According to them, while local government elections in Nigeria have often faced criticism over alleged irregularities, the conduct of the Adamawa poll represented what they described as “the height of electoral banditry.”
They further argued that previous controversial electoral episodes in the state, including the widely debated “Hudu saga,” appeared more transparent than the process that produced the June 13 local government election results.
The ADC candidates called on civil society organisations, labour unions, democracy advocates, constitutional rights groups, and other stakeholders to intervene in defence of democratic principles in the state.
They also appealed to Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri to uphold the democratic ideals that, according to them, contributed to his political rise.
“Governor Fintiri is himself a product of political and electoral activism that safeguarded electoral integrity. He must not destroy the very ladder that lifted him to power,” the group stated.
Rejecting the declared results in their entirety, the candidates said they do not recognise the announced winners and called on ADSIEC to fix a new date for what they described as a credible, transparent, and inclusive local government election across Adamawa State.
They warned that the controversy surrounding the exercise could further erode public confidence in the electoral process and discourage voter participation in future elections.
“Our greatest concern is the dangerous precedent this sets and the adverse consequences it holds for future elections. The electorate is already angry and may lose interest in subsequent elections if local government polls, which are the foundation of democracy, are reduced to selection by fiat,” the candidates said.
They vowed to pursue all lawful and democratic avenues to challenge the outcome of the election and seek what they described as the restoration of electoral sanity in Adamawa State.
ADSIEC had earlier declared candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winners of all chairmanship and councillorship seats across the state following the June 13 local government elections.