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.
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, Bornu 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.
It was 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.”
In the meantime, Fintiri’s supporters on Monday took to the streets demanding the collation of the supplementary election results and conclusion of the process without further delay.
The protesters who turned out in their thousands were led by prominent PDP stakeholders.
They marched from the party’s office located at the police roundabout to the INEC headquarters.
The demonstrators were restrained from destroying the billboards bearing the images of Binani and the President-elect, Bola Tinubu by the Deputy Director-General of the PDP Presidential and Governorship Campaign Council, Felix Tangwami.
He called for decorum, noting that the protest would continue until the electoral commission yielded to their demand by concluding the collation process and announcing Fintiri as the winner.
“Be peaceful and civil; we would lay siege to the INEC office until the commission listens to us, resume collation and make a return because Adamawa people are not happy because what has happened is treasonable and illegal. We take our call to the street to demand that justice be done with our protest for as long as it takes. Please exercise restraint and decorum,” Tangwami told the party’s loyalists.
Speaking to one of our correspondents on Monday, the National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, said the meeting with the summoned REC and other officials might be held on Tuesday, adding that the national commissioners were on their way back to Abuja.
Okoye confirmed that the Adamawa returning officer had arrived in Abuja, adding that he was not sure if Yunusa-Ari was also in the city.
He stated, “No national commissioner in Abuja except the chairman (Mahmood Yakubu). We were all deployed for supplementary elections. The national commissioners are on their way back to Abuja. If there will be any meeting, it will be tomorrow (Tuesday) because the national commissioners have to return to Abuja before a meeting can take place. I am sure that the Returning Officer for the Adamawa governorship election is already in Abuja.”
Explaining the steps that would be taken by INEC to resolve the Adamawa debacle, Okoye disclosed that the commission would meet to take a decision on the resumption of the results’ collation.
He stated, “At the end of the meeting, far-reaching decisions will be taken. The commission will also offer a full and unambiguous explanation of the actions it has taken and measures put in place to safeguard electoral integrity. The commission is conscious of its responsibilities to the Nigerian people and its decision on the suspension and resumption of collation (of results) will be guided by the Constitution, the Electoral Act and its Regulations and Guidelines.’’
