INEC to sacked Adamawa REC:  Prove your innocence in court

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has urged the sacked Adamawa state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr. Hudu Yunusa Ari, to prove his innocence and propriety of his conduct in the 2023 governorship election in Adamawa state by availing himself for the due process of law and not by holding a press conference.

Mr Ari who recently returned to the country after exit from the country at the wake of the alleged misconduct, had organised a press conference where he insisted that Senator Aisha ‘Binani’ Dahiru of the All Progressives Congress (APC) actually won the 2023 Adamawa governorship polls.

Reacting to Mr Ari’s claim in a telephone interview on Monday, Chief Press Secretary to the INEC chairman, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi, said there was nothing new in the claims Mr Ari made in his interview.

Mr Oyekanmi noted that the substantive matter of the 2023 Adamawa state governorship election had been determined through the appropriate judicial process from the trial Tribunal to the Appeal Tribunal and finally settled by the Supreme Court.

He, however, stated that the Commission would not comment on the propriety or otherwise of Ari’s conduct during the concluding part of the election, noting that the matter is right now the subject of litigation at the High Court sitting in Yola and therefore subjudice.

Oyekanmi stated, “There is nothing new in what he (Yunusa Hudu Ari) said. In any case, the substantive matter of the 2023 Adamawa State Governorship election has been determined through the appropriate judicial process from the trial Tribunal to the Appeal Tribunal and finally settled by the Supreme Court.

“The Commission will not comment on the propriety or otherwise of his conduct during the concluding part of the election as the matter is right now the subject of litigation at the High Court sitting in Yola and therefore subjudice.

“Now that he is back in the country, the right place to prove his innocence and the propriety of his action is by availing himself for the due process of law and not a press conference.”

Recently, the Senate approved President Bola Tinubu’s request to fire Yunusa-Ari, along with election commissioners from Abia and Sokoto states, for alleged misconduct.