Barrister Hudu Yunusa Ari, the suspended Resident Electoral Commission (REC) for Adamawa State, has defended his announcement of Aishatu Ahmed (Binani), the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, as the winner of the state’s supplementary governorship election on April 15. In a letter sent to the inspector-general of police and the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Ari said he acted within his responsibility and within the law and the Electoral Act, 2022, in declaring Binani as the winner of the election.
Ari, who was suspended following his controversial announcement, said threats and pressures were mounted on him to declare the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate and governor of the state, Ahmadu Fintiri, as the winner. According to him, the later result announced by the two national commissioners were shrouded in doubt and unacceptable outcome of the election.
The announcement of Binani as the winner was met with violence, as some PDP supporters allegedly beat up two commissioners for allegedly failing to deliver Governor Fintiri and some others in a purported video.
Narrating what transpired on that day, Ari said he acted on intelligence report that the two National Commissioners were at the Government House Yola, at 8.31pm on 15/04/2023, and held a meeting with the State Governor, Mr. Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri. He added that when he got to the place, his name was replaced with that of the administrative secretary to take charge of collation, and the national commissioners declared that he was nowhere to be found.
However, Ari said he returned to the collation center later that day, as he was still the resident electoral commissioner, and all stakeholders for the re-run election should return to the collation center. He compared the results submitted by the presiding officers from all the 69 polling units and found that the results on the INEC portal were different because the results on the INEC portal were not signed by him.