CSO asks police to declare Adamawa REC wanted

The Partners for Electoral Reform, a civil society organisation (CSO), has asked the police to declare Hudu Yunusa-Ari, the suspended resident electoral commissioner (REC) of Adamawa, wanted.

On April 15, the Adamawa governorship supplementary election was conducted following the declaration of the March 18 poll as inconclusive over alleged irregularities.

While the results from the supplementary election were yet to be completely announced, Yunusa-Ari declared Aisha ‘Binani’ Dahiru, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner.

INEC subsequently declared the announcement null and void and summoned the REC to its headquarters in Abuja, asking Yunusa-Ari to “stay away” from the commission’s office in Adamawa.

President Muhammadu Buhari, on April 20, approved the REC’s suspension and directed his prosecution if found guilty after investigations.

Meanwhile, INEC said it does not know the whereabouts of Yunusa-Ari, adding that he has not been picking up phone calls.

In a statement on Friday, Ezenwa Nwagwu, chairman of the CSO, said Yunusa-Ari should be immediately declared wanted by the police if he won’t turn himself in for investigation.

“He is doing himself a disservice by going into hiding. Implied by his action is an admission of guilt which is apparent from his sudden disappearance,” Nwagwu said.

“There is no such designation under the law and curiously for a lawyer, he did not refer to any section of the Electoral Act to justify what is clearly his usurpation of the power of the returning officer.

“As for the results from various levels of collation, we all saw the REC making his illegal declaration without any forms in the manner the commission collates results and declares winners.

“In any case, the authentic results from all the 69 polling units across the 20 LGAs where the supplementary elections took place on April 15 is now public knowledge.

“There is a severe penalty under the Electoral Act 2022 for publishing fake election results which does not provide the option of fine.

“He cannot be hiding forever and cannot continue to move about in a private jet as he was allegedly flown from Adamawa to his hiding place.

“If Yunusa-Ari is not ready to voluntarily submit himself to police investigation as directed by the president, the police should declare him wanted immediately.”