Hudu Ari, the suspended Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of Adamawa State, was taken into custody by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) after his behavior during the governorship supplementary election in the state prompted the suspension of his position.
It was reported that Ari was suspended by INEC after he made an illegal declaration of victory in the Adamawa State governorship election on April 16 in favor of the candidate for governorship put forward by the All Progressives Congress (APC), Aishatu Dahiru Binani.
The controversial REC made the announcement while the tallying of votes was still in progress, with incumbent governor and candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Ahmadu Fintiri leading in the number of votes counted.
It was stated that the Electoral Act (2022) only granted authority to the Returning Officer for the election rather than the REC to declare the winner of an election.
It was confirmed in a statement that was made public on Tuesday, May 2, and signed by the spokesperson for the Force, Muyiwa Adejobi, that Ari is currently being held in custody by the police.
According to Adejobi, the Police Election Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation Team in Abuja detained Ari. This information was obtained from Adejobi.
The suspended REC is currently being questioned as part of efforts to determine the reasons behind his actions during the supplementary elections in Adamawa State. These efforts are part of a larger effort to determine the motivations behind his actions.
According to the statement, the team is currently conducting investigations into other officials and individuals who are believed to be involved in the scandal.
The commitment of the Inspector-General to investigate and prosecute every individual involved in the incident and indicted in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution was reaffirmed by a spokesperson for the Police Department.
Adejobi gave his word that everyone who was found to have been involved in the scandal would be held accountable in the end.
During this time, The ICIR reported that the suspended Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) said he conducted himself in accordance with the provisions of the law during the supplementary election that took place on April 15 in Adamawa.
In a letter that he sent to the Inspector General of Police, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and the Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Ari made this proclamation.
He explained that the purpose of his participation in the contentious declaration of the results of the governorship election was to avert the imminent threat that was posed by the delay in announcing the results of the election.
According to Ari, “The results brought by the presiding officers from the 69 polling units, which he did not sign, differed from those uploaded on the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal.” The IReV portal is where election results can be viewed online.
He also claimed that contesting candidates had threatened him, and that police officers from the Government House had surrounded his residential home.
“It was on the basis of this that I compiled all the results from the polling units, and I announced the winner of the election based on the candidate from the APC who received the highest number of valid votes overall.
“I had the breakdown of the valid votes scored by the two leading candidates in the supplementary election,” Ari continued. “Using the results from the polling units as collated into all relevant forms EC8B, C, D, and E respectively by properly and legally appointed and recognized collation officers and my humble self as the Adamawa State Chief Collation Officer and Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC),” he explained. “I had the breakdown of the valid votes scored by the two leading candidates in the supplementary election.”
