Issues, as police confirm ‘arrest’ of fleeing Adamawa REC, Yunusa-Ari

Questions have been raised over the surprise ‘arrest’ of the erstwhile fleeing and since suspended Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Residential Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Adamawa State, Barrister Hudu Yunusa-Ari.

The police confirmed Yunusa-Ari’s arrest, Tuesday, after nearly three weeks in hiding after being declared missing on April 17, a day following his illegal declaration of a candidate as winner in the state’s supplementary governorship election.

The suspended Adamawa REC was declared missing by INEC immediately after the commission had written to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba to investigate and prosecute the official for his role in illegal declaration of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator (Mrs) Aisha Ahmed Dahiru (Binani) as winner and governor-elect in the Adamawa State Supplementary Governorship Elections, held, April 15.

Yunusa-Ari was last seen boarding a private jet at the Yola airport to an undisclosed destination shortly after he attempted to subvert the Adamawa State supplementary governorship elections by illegally announcing a winner even as collation of results was still ongoing, Sunday, April 16.

Nearly two weeks after, the IGP acknowledged receiving the letter from the INEC National Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, requesting investigation and prosecution of the REC over his role in what the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Adamawa described as an electoral coup, just as the police chief had earlier also ordered the sacking of the Adamawa Police Commissioner, Mohammed Barde from the state ‘with immediate effect.’

A confirmation issued by the Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, subsequently also disclosed that following Barde’s suspension, the IGP Baba also directed the immediate redeployment of the Gombe State police commissioner, Etim Equa to Adamawa.

CP Barde accompanied the embattled Yunusa-Ari to the Adamawa State Governorship Election Collation Centre, and sat beside the INEC REC while the latter declared Senator Dahiru as winner, on Sunday, April 16, at the state’s Collation Centre in Yola.

Yunusa-Aril was subsequently declared missing by INEC after he failed to show up at a meeting where he was invited to state his side in the incident, the following Monday.

INEC National Commissioner And Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, stated that the commission did not know the whereabouts of Yunusa-Ari, as the latter failed to show up at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja as directed and had not been answering his phone calls.

“We don’t know where he is because, after this particular incident, the commission wrote him and also called him on the phone. He never returned any of the calls, he never answered any of the calls.

“We asked him to report to the commission on Sunday we didn’t see him, we asked him to report on Monday we didn’t see him. So up till this moment, he has not reported and we don’t know his whereabouts,” Okoye said.

INEC had declared the action of Ari as void and illegal, as according to it, the job of announcing collated results was that of the Returning Officer in the state, Prof Mohammed Mele, just as the commission wondered why he (Ari) declared a winner while results from nearly 10 of the local government areas were still being collated.

However, in a twist to the controversy, Yunusa-Aril wrote a letter from his hideout, last week, which also copied the INEC chairman, Yakubu, accusing some other senior officials of the commission of attempting to aid the rigging of the election, adding further that his name was wrongfully replaced as one of the officials to assist in the collation of results.

Meanwhile, Force spokesperson, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, Tuesday, confirmed that the police have arrested the embattled former INEC REC, and that the commissioner was in their custody.

“The Nigeria Police Force hereby confirms the arrest of Barr. Hudu Yunusa-Ari, the Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), who was alleged to have announced the candidate of the All Progressives Congress winner of the gubernatorial elections during the recently concluded supplementary elections following calls for his arrest and investigation by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the basis of alleged impropriety in the course of supplementary gubernatorial polls in the State. Barrister Ari, who was arrested by the Police Election Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation Team in Abuja on Tuesday 2nd May, 2023, is currently in Police custody and is being grilled to ascertain the motives and motivations behind his alleged improper actions during the supplementary elections in Adamawa State.

“In addition, other officials and individuals culpable in the saga are being interrogated by the team,” the police statement read.

However, since his arrest, the embattled REC continues to insist that he has no regrets over his actions on Sunday, April 16 in Yola, prompting questions of accomplices placed in higher places of government, who provided him assurances of safety.

The police also did not disclose how Ai was arrested, or if he turned himself in, weeks after his disappearance and untraceable whereabouts.

Initially, days after the INEC reportedly announced that the commission has written the police chief to investigate and prosecute Ari, the Force spokesperson, Adejobi denied receiving any letter from the electoral body.

During a media briefing announcing the removal of the CP Barde as Adamawa police commissioner, Adejobi said the police is yet to receive any letter seeking probe of Ari from INEC, even as the REC was seen in full glare at the Yola airport boarding a private jet to an unknown destination.

From his hideout, Ari wrote to the police, INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu and other security agencies, accusing he electoral body of false allegation. This is even as the police maintained that the REC was still in hiding.

Ari’s full letter:

“The Commissioners held a meeting with my management staff in my absence and while I did not know the outcome of the meeting, there was a sudden move to tamper with the list of Collation Officers (COs) earlier released for the re-run election.

“National Commissioners quietly and secretly gave out conflicting counter directives to the EOs (Electoral Officers) that collation was to be done in the Local Government Areas with an instruction that new LGA collation officers which I am not aware of will be sent to them.

“This is without my knowledge or authorization as the Resident Electoral Commissioner as recognized by laws establishing INEC and Electoral Act.

“My name was replaced with that of the Administrative Secretary to take charge of the collation.

“I then asked the National Commissioners to explain why they would exclude me from the process of collating results but there was no explanation. After some time, the National Commissioners declared that I was nowhere to be found immediately after the announcement, someone called me and informed about the development.

“So around 1:00 am on Sunday 16 April, 2023, I came back to the collation center and as I saw some people sleeping including the two National Commissioners, I addressed them that I was still the Resident Electoral Commissioner and that all stakeholders for the re-run election should return to the collation center by 11:00 am on Sunday, 16 April, 2023.

“It is important to note that while the National Commissioners defied the security concerns released by the Commissioner of Police, they purportedly did result collation at various locations by their self-appointed, unapproved and illegal collation officers.

“Meanwhile, I received reports that the collations at the various centers were left much to be desired. So due to the pressure and the numerous calls I received from party agents and candidates of political parties threatening to cause mayhem for not having confidence in the collation of results at the various collation centers as directed by the National Commissioners, I looked inward and decided to call for all the results from the sixty-nine (69) polling units.

“To avert the impending danger of the delay in announcing the results of the supplementary elections, I received the authentic results submitted by the Presiding Officers (POs) from all the sixty-nine polling units and compared them with the results that were uploaded on the IREV INEC portal and realized that the results on the portal were different because the results on the INEC portal were not signed by me.

“On 15/04/2023 at about 10:00pm, armed Policemen from Government House came to my house and placed me under House Arrest to prevent me from conducting my legitimate duties. It took the intervention of the Commissioner of Police who sent Mobile Policemen to my house and when they heard a call was made to the CP, the policemen from Government House fled in a White Toyota Hilux van.

“It was based on this, that I compiled all the polling unit results and declared the winner of the election based on the highest number of valid votes scored by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed Binani.

“There was an intelligence report made available to me that the two National Commissioners were at the Government House, Yola, at 8:31 pm on 15/04/2023 Adamawa State and held a meeting with the State Governor, Mr. Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri.

“So, immediately after the declaration, some PDP supporters attacked one of the National Commissioners, Prof. Abdullahi Zara as well as the Returning Officer, Prof. Muhammed Mele for failing to deliver Mr. Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri in the election after collecting money from him.

“It was also alleged that the people beaten in the purported video wanted to subvert the re-run election in Adamawa State and undermine the will of the Adamawa people as expressed through the ballot.

“A staff of Department of State Services (DSS) on intelligence gathering on the money allegedly given to the National Commissioner was also disarmed, abducted, taken to Government House Yola and assaulted by Police from Government House Yola and thugs loyal to the PDP,” Ari wrote.