Adamawa REC arrested for ‘illegally’ declaring election result

The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Adamawa State, Hudu Yunusa-Ari, who was suspended for illegally declaring the results of last month’s governorship election in the state, has been arrested by police.

– Key points to note

Authorities earlier said Mr Yunusa-Ari had gone into hiding and his whereabouts were unknown. On Tuesday, police said they had written to him and he was taken into custody.

“Barrister Ari, who was arrested by the Police Election Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation Team in Abuja on Tuesday 2nd May, 2023, is currently in police custody and is being grilled to ascertain the motives and motivations behind his alleged improper actions during the supplementary elections in Adamawa state,” police spokesperson Muyiwa Adejobi said in a statement.

“The inspector-general of police has given clear assurance that every individual involved/indicted in the matter will be apprehended and investigated in line with the provisions of the law for possible prosecution.”

– Why this matters

As a REC, Mr Yunusa-Ari is not empowered by law to declare the results of the governorship election. That function is carried out by a returning officer appointed separately by the Independent National Electoral Commission, Inec.

The commission said Mr Yunusa-Ari broke the law when he declared Aisha Binani of the APC winner after the April 15 supplementary election. Inec nullified the announcement and declared Ahmadu Fintiri of the PDP governor.

Mr Yunusa-Ari was later suspended by President Buhari but the electoral body said he could not contact him and did not respond to its letters and phone calls.

Police authorities also redeployed its commissioner in Adamawa, Mohammed Barde, who was present but failed to act during the illegal declaration by Mr Ari.

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In an interview with the BBC Hausa, aired Tuesday, Mr Yunusa-Ari said Aisha Binani won the election. He said Binani scored 428,173 votes while Mr Fintiri scored 422,303 votes.

Inec in its final result said Mr Fintiri had 430,861 votes while Binani had 398,788 votes.

Mr Yunusa-Ari denied he was hiding and said he would honour an invitation from the police.

“I wrote a letter to INEC. I was told they did not receive it, but I’m sure they’ve received it,” he said. “This invitation from the police, I will honour it,” he said, claiming he never went into hiding.