The Independent National Electoral Commission says it has filed charges against its former top official in Adamawa state who illegally declared a candidate governor.
The electoral agency says it filed a six-count charge against Resident Electoral Commissioner Hudu Yunusa-Ari at the Adamawa state high court in Yola, the state capital.
“Consequently, the court has fixed Wednesday 12th July 2023 for commencement of trial,” spokesperson Festus Okoye said in a statement Thursday.
Mr Yunusa-Ari was arrested in May.
As a REC, he lacked powers to declare the results of the governorship election. The returning officer has the powers to do so.
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 former President Muhammadu Buhari, but the electoral body said he could not contact him, and he 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.
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