Adamawa poll: My declaration was in respect with law – Suspended REC

Hudu Yunusa Ari, the suspended Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Adamawa State, who is also a lawyer, has explained that he acted within the ambit of the law to avert impending danger of the delay in announcing the results, saying 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, who stated this in a letter write to the Inspector General of Police to explain his part in the controversial April 16 announcement of the governorship election, which put the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Aishatu Ahmed (Binani) as winner against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate and governor of the state, Ahmadu Fintiri, said that he announced results of 69 polling units in the April 15 supplementary election due to security pressure.

In the letter, which was copied the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the director-general of the Department of State Services (DSS), 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 being 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 this 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.”

He said that immediately after the declaration, some PDP supporters attacked two INEC commissioners and the returning officer for allegedly failing to deliver Governor Fintiri, adding that “it was alleged that the people beaten in the purported video wanted to subvert the rerun election in Adamawa State and undermine the will of the people as expressed through the ballot.”

The Informant247 recalls that the Resident Electoral Commissioner of Adamawa, Prof Hudu Yunus Ari, declared Binani as winner midway into the collation.

It was gathered that the results from 10 out of the 20 local government areas had been declared while the exercise was adjourned till 11am.

However, Ari made pronouncement an hour before the scheduled time, even though the Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was the one leading before the pronouncement was made.

Meanwhile, in a counter claim, the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC (INEC) debunked the purported declaration in a statement released by Barr. Festus Okoye, the National Commissioner, Information & Voter Education, saying the declaration was nulled and void, adding that the election process has not been concluded before the declaration by the REC.