Reactions as INEC drags suspended Adamawa REC, Ari to court

Nigerian Electoral body, INEC
will arraign the suspended Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Yunusa Hudu Ari on Wednesday, July 12,
before an Adamawa State High Court, in Yola, the State capital.

Ari will be facing a 6-count charge.

Nigerians, and members of the Opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, expressed shock when on Sunday, April 16, 2023, the Adamawa REC, Ari, declared the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed as the winner of the Adamawa State Governorship elections.

Public condemnation trailed Ari’s declaration and announcement in line with the 2022 Electoral Act, such was supposed to be by the State Returning/Collation Officer and not the REC.

Results were still being collated when Ari sneaked into the state governorship collation centre to declare Senator Ahmed, popularly called Binani, as the winner, when according to the official results released by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Binani was trailing behind Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, who had established a margin of lead of 31,249 votes before the unfortunate declaration.

Prior to the supplementary polls, Fintiri had polled 421, 524 votes while Binani polled 390, 275 votes.
The margin of lead did not exceed the number of cancelled votes in 69 polling units, with a total number of 37,016. That led to a supplementary election.

At the resumption of the collation of results from the supplementary polls, which held across the state on Saturday, April 15, 2023, Ari, had abruptly suspended the collation exercise and shifted it to 11am on Sunday, April 6, two hours ahead of the scheduled 11am, declared Binani the winner.

Earlier report, had it that out of the 10 council areas, Fintiri had already won in eight – Demsa, Lamurde, Jada, Ganye, Song, Maiha, Hong and Shelleng councils, leaving Binani with only two councils – Yola North and Yola South.

Ari’s step attracted both local and international reactions from Nigerians, civil society organisations and election observer missions, describing it as electoral fraud and impunity.

INEC, through its official Twitter handle, asked Nigerians to disregard the action of the Adamawa REC, accused Ari of performing the powers of the Returning Officer, Professor Mele, by announcing the results of the polls, which were yet to be tallied and concluded.

Mele carried out the collation of results and announced Governor Fintiri of the Opposition PDP as the winner of the poll on Tuesday, April 18.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on Tuesday, April 18, announced the suspension of Ari, demanding his arrest and prosecution over the electoral infraction.

Former President Muhammadu Buhari on April 20, approved Ari’s suspension as Adamawa REC, pending the completion of the investigation by the Nigeria Police.

The suspended Adamawa REC, was not remorseful or apologetic, but declared that he had no regret declaring Binani the winner in controversial circumstances,

“I don’t regret announcing Binani winner of the election. Anything you do according to the law, you won’t regret it.

Three months after Nigerians are wondering the
punishment meted out to Ari and his accomplices, the INEC, through its National Commissioner on Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye, announced on Thursday, July 6, that the Commission had filed a six-count charge against the suspended Adamawa REC, Ari.

Okoye noted that the case was filed at the Adamawa State High Court in Yola, against Ari for his unprofessional conduct in the recently concluded Governorship election in the state.

“It would be recalled that on Tuesday, July 4, 2023, the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, during a meeting with the RECs, confirmed the receipt of the case files from the Nigeria Police, following the conclusion of investigation into the alleged electoral offences committed during the 2023 General Election, including the one involving Ari. He has assured Nigerians of immediate action on the matter.

“As provided by Section 145(1) of the Electoral Act 2022, an offence committed under the Act shall be tried in a Magistrate Court or a High Court of a state where the offence is committed, or the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. Furthermore, Section 145(2) of the Act provides that a prosecution under the Act shall be undertaken by legal officers of the Commission, or any legal practitioner appointed by it.

“Having reviewed the case file from the Police, which established a prima-facie case against Ari, the Commission has filed a six-count charge against him at the Adamawa State High Court sitting in Yola. Consequently, the Court has fixed Wednesday July 12, 2023 for commencement of trial.

The Commission in collaboration with the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) is working for prosecution of other cases,” Okoye said.