INEC drags suspended Adamawa REC to court, files 6 charges
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has filed a six-count charge against the suspended Adamawa Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Hudu Yunusa-Ari.
INEC filed the charges at the high court in Yola, the state capital.
INEC, in a statement on Thursday, said it took the action after reviewing the case file from the police which established a prima facie case against Yunusa-Ari.
READ ALSO: After weeks of hiding, suspended Adamawa REC, Yunusa-Ari, arrested
It could be recalled that Yunusa-Ari was arrested after he illegally announced APC governorship candidate, Aisha Dahiru Binani, as the winner of the supplementary election in Adamawa on April 15.
Mr Ari made the dramatic announcement while the collation of results was still ongoing.
INEC nullified Yunusa-Ari’s decision and suspended him, while former President, Muhammadu Buhari, ordered a full investigation on the electoral commissioner and the security personnel around him.
He was later granted administrative bail, then asked to report to the headquarters of the NPF every weekday.
Continuing their investigation, INEC National Commissioner, Festus Okoye, said the commission will “soon” take action on the case.
He said, “I am aware that the police have concluded investigations and I am aware that in the next few weeks, Nigerians will be informed of what will happen.
“Under the law, it is the responsibility of the Independent National Electoral Commission to prosecute him (Ari) if a prima facie case has made out against him.
READ ALSO: I didn’t receive N2 billion to declare Binani winner of Adamawa election – REC
Defending his action after incumbent governor, Ahmadu Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was declared winner of the election, Yunusa-Ari said he announced results of 69 polling units in the April 15 supplementary election due to security pressure.
He stated his reasons for the April 16 declaration in a letter addressed to the then Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, copied INEC chairman and the Director-General of the Department of State Services, DSS.
Ari stated that he acted within the ambit of the law to avert looming danger of the delay in announcing the results, especially because he realised that the results brought by the presiding officers from the 69 polling units, which he did not sign, differed from those uploaded on the INEC Result Viewing, IReV, portal.
Ari listed the attempts to replace him as the collation officer with the administrative
secretary, threats by candidates to cause mayhem, commissioners appointing ‘illegal collation officers’, and his house surrounded by policemen from the Government House as some of the risks he faced in the course of the election.
He stated, “It was based on these that I compiled all the polling unit results and declared the winner of the election based on the highest number of valid votes scored by the candidate of the APC.
“I had the breakdown of the valid votes scored by the two leading candidates in the supplementary election, using the results from the polling units as collated into all relevant forms EC8B, C, D and E respectively by properly and legally appointed and recognised collation officers and my humble self as the Adamawa State Chief Collation Officer and Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC).
“Prior to the declaration, there was an intelligence report made available to me that the two national commissioners were at the Government House, Yola at 8:31pm on April 15, 2023 and held a meeting with Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri.”
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