The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on Thursday, charged the suspended
Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, in Adamawa State, Hudu Yunusa-Ari, to court on a six -count charge bothering on electoral fraud, malpractices and other electoral offences at the High Court in Yola.
INEC, in a statement on Thursday, explained that it took the decision 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 conduct during Adamawa State governorship election.
He was later granted administrative bail, and was asked to be reporting to the headquarters of the NPF every weekday.
The INEC National Commissioner, Festus Okoye, in a statement last month, said the commission would “soon” take action on the case.
“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.” He said.
Yunusa-Ari ran into trouble with the law during the supplementary election in Adamawa on April 15 after announcing Aisha ‘Binani’ Dahiru of the All Progressives Congress, APC, winner of the controversial election while the collation of results was still ongoing.
However, INEC cancelled Yunusa-Ari’s results and suspended him.
The former President, Muhammadu Buhari, ordered a full investigation into the conduct of the electoral commissioner and the security personnel that were around him when he made the declaration.
However, INEC concluded the election and announced the incumbent Governor, Ahmadu Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party, as the authentic winner of the drama-filled poll.
Yunusa-Ari while putting up his defence on why he announced the results of 69 polling units in the April 15 supplementary election, said he did it due to security pressure.
He disclosed his reasons in a letter addressed to the then Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, which copied INEC chairman and the Director-General of the Department of State Services, DSS.
According to him, he acted within the ambit of the law to avert looming danger due to the delay in announcing the results, especially when he realized 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’s 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 the surrounding of his house by policemen from the Government House as some of the risks he faced in the course of the election.
“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.” He said.
