Following the Adamawa governorship election saga, Hudu Yunusa Ari, the suspended Resident Electoral Commissioner, has claimed that he declared Aishatu Dahiru, popularly known as Binani of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the winner due to security pressure.
It can be recalled that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) suspended Yunusa Ari after he illegally declared Binani the winner, contrary to the Electoral Act.
However, INEC intervened in the matter and declared Ahmadu Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the authentic winner of the Adamawa State election after following due process. Fintiri received 430,861 votes to defeat Binani of APC.
INEC has asked the Inspector-General of Police and necessary security agencies to investigate and prosecute Yunusa Ari.
Since then, Yunusa Ari has not been seen or heard from, except for a recent letter he addressed to the Inspector General of Police.
In the letter, he explained that he acted within the law. He alleged that the results he signed and uploaded on the Result Viewing (IReV) portal differed from the ones announced by the INEC Collation Officer. Yunusa Ari further claimed that there were attempts to replace him with his secretary and that two national commissioners were at the Government House, Yola, at 8:31 pm on April 15, 2023.
Based on this, he compiled all the polling unit results and declared the election winner based on the highest number of valid votes scored by the APC candidate. However, INEC has denied claims of its officials meeting with Fintiri during the supplementary election.
