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The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has filed a six-count charge against its suspended Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, in Adamawa State, 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.
The Police had arrested Yunusa-Ari over his actions during Adamawa State governorship election. He was granted administrative bail, then asked to report to the headquarters of the NPF every weekday.
Investigation
Last month, 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.”
The case
Yunusa-Ari’s problems started after the supplementary election in Adamawa on April 15.
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 that were around him when he made the declaration.
INEC then concluded the election and announced the incumbent governor, Ahmadu Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as the authentic winner of the drama-filled poll.
Yunusa-Ari’s defence
Defending his action, 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.”
