Governor-elect of Adamawa State, Umaru Ahmad Finitiri has said the March 18 governorship election was the toughest in his political career.

Finitiri who is also the governor of the state alleged that the order to manipulate the election came from Abuja.

The governor who spoke to journalists in Abuja after receiving his Certificate of Return from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), stated that the manipulators were out to strangle the nation’s democracy, “and you can see to your dismay that even the security agencies that are supposed to protect our democracy were involved in strangling the democracy in Nigeria.”

Finitiri described himself as a “veteran of inconclusive elections,” adding, “I know that I won the election on 18 March 2023 squarely from the beginning.

“The REC from the beginning has been manipulating the election to give it to the APC, but unfortunately because of the quantum of voting, he became confused and had to declare the election inconclusive believing that if he is given the second opportunity, he will be able to manipulate. But God did not allow him.

“We won the inconclusive election again squarely and he had to do what he did disgracefully.

“I think INEC has taken steps and they are going to prosecute him but I think the right place to prosecute him is in Adamawa because he committed the offense in my land. I am going to instruct the Ministry of Justice to ensure that he is prosecuted and taken to jail.”

The governor, however, said democracy has come to stay in Nigeria, and commended the INEC for rescuing the situation.

He apologized to the commission for the attack on its two National Commissioners and said it was a case of mistaken identity.

“It is unfortunate that we have to go through all these to arrive at this moment.

“This should have been finished and done since on the 18th of March, but unfortunately, because of the attitude of some individuals among us, and some desperation of some politicians, it has to drag this long for us to be here.

“But thank God, INEC with very wonderful and excellent personnel has redeemed the whole process. They redeemed the image battered by so-called REC and today, Nigerians have cause to celebrate democracy.

“Going forward, we should learn from the lessons that we went through in the last week so that we can continue to build on the process and our democracy as stakeholders.”

The certificate presentation was done by the supervisory INEC commissioner for North East, Dr. Baba Bila.

Deputy governor-elect, Prof. Kaletapwa Farauta, also received his certificate of return at the occasion. (New Telegraph)