THE suspended Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Hudu Yunusa Ari, has been granted administrative bail by the Police.
This was disclosed in a statement on Friday, May 5, by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) spokesperson, Olumuyiwa Adejobi.
“The Nigeria Police Force hereby confirms that Barr. Hudu Yunusa-Ari, the Suspended Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), who has been in custody for interrogations by the Police in the course of investigations into allegations of impropriety during the supplementary gubernatorial pools in the state, has been granted administrative bail by the Police while investigations subsist.
“He is expected to report at the Police Headquarters every weekday while investigations are ongoing on the matter,” Adejobi stated.
Ari was suspended by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for “illegally” declaring a winner in the Adamawa State governorship election.
INEC later wrote to the IG of Police, Usman Baba, for Ari’s immediate arrest and prosecution.
The decision to write the IGP was taken at a meeting of INEC’s top hierarchy in Abuja on April 18.
In a statement released after the meeting, the Commission said it would brief President Muhammadu Buhari on the REC’s conduct.
The Police arrested Ari on May 2 after INEC said it was unaware of the suspended REC’s whereabouts.
Adejobi stated that the Police Election Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation Team arrested Ari in Abuja.
Meanwhile, The ICIR reported that the suspended Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) said he acted according to the provision of the law during the Adamawa April 15 supplementary election.
Ari made this pronouncement in a letter addressed to the IGP, the chairman of INEC and the director-general of the Department of State Services (DSS).
He explained that his role in the controversial declaration of the governorship election was to avert the impending danger posed by delay in announcing the results.
Ari declared Aishatu Dahiru Binani of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of the election while the collation of results was still going on.
According to Electoral Act, 2022, the Returning Officer, rather than the REC, has the power to declare the winner of an election.
Incumbent governor and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Adamu Fintiri was leading in the supplementary votes counted in 10 out of the 20 local government areas when the REC announced Binani as the winner.
The ICIR reported that the INEC headquarters in Abuja summoned Ari minutes after he declared Binani, the winner.
The Commission also invited its other staff involved in the declaration to Abuja and consequently suspended the collation of results of the supplementary poll.
PDP candidate, Fintiri, was eventually declared winner of the election.
A reporter with the ICIR
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