The Independent National Electoral Commission on Monday ordered the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Adamawa State, Hudu Yunusa-Ari, to stay away from the commission’s state office.
INEC’s action was premised on Yunusa-Ari’s declaration of the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate, Aisha Dahiru, popularly known as Binani as the governor-elect in Saturday’s supplementary election.
The commission also barred the REC from coming to the office in a letter signed by the Secretary to the Commission, Rose Oriaran-Anthony.
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The REC’s action continued to attract criticism on Monday as the Peoples Democratic Party governors called for his prosecution.
But Binani at Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday filed a suit seeking an order to prevent INEC and its agents from taking any further steps towards the declaration of the winner of the election pending the determination of her court case
Yunusa-Ari had announced Binani as the winner of the supplementary polls while the collation of the results was underway, causing confusion in the state and drawing consternation across the country.
Before the declaration, Binani was trailing behind Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of the PDP, who had established a margin of lead of 31,249 votes.
Fintiri had scored 421, 524 votes ahead of Binani who got 390, 275 votes.
However, Fintiri could not be declared the winner of the March 18 governorship election by the state returning officer, Professor Mohammed Mele, of the Department of English and Linguistics, University of Maiduguri, Borni State, because the margin of lead did not exceed the number of cancelled votes in 69 polling units.
Yunusa-Ari’s action was condemned by opposition parties and ex-INEC national commissioners as strange and with some Nigerians saying the incident reflected the anomaly that characterised the general elections.
But the INEC nullified the pronouncement and also summoned the REC who usurped the duties of the returning officer and other officials to Abuja.
However, the embattled REC and his colleagues could not appear before a committee of the commission in Abuja on Monday due to the ongoing strike by aviation workers which grounded airport operations nationwide.
The PUNCH gathered that all the INEC national commissioners who would constitute the committee members were also affected by the aviation strike as they could not get return flights to Abuja.
It was learnt that the senior INEC officials, who had participated in the rerun polls in different states, were returning by road and expected at the INEC headquarters, Abuja, on Tuesday (today).
But Oriaran-Anthony in her letter to Yunusa-Ari dated April 17, 2023, explained that the administrative secretary of the commission in Adamawa State had been directed to take charge of the INEC office in the state.
The letter read, “I hereby convey the commission’s decision that you (Barrister Hudu Yunusa-Ari), Resident Electoral Commissioner, Adamawa State should stay away from the commission’s office in Adamawa State immediately until further notice. The administrative secretary has been directed to take full charge of INEC, Adamawa State with immediate effect.”
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