The suspended Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Adamawa State, Hudu Yunusa-Ari, has explained in a letter to the Inspector General of Police, that he declared the results of 69 polling units in the April 15 supplementary election due to security pressure. The REC had sparked controversy within the state and country when he unilaterally declared the candidate of the APC, Aishatu Dahiru Binani, winner of the state governorship elections.
He claimed he acted within the ambit of the law to avert impending danger associated with any delay in announcing the results. He also alleged attempts to replace him as the collation officer with the administrative secretary, threats to cause mayhem, commissioners appointing ‘illegal collation officers’, and his house being surrounded by policemen from Government House as some of the risks he faced during the poll.
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The REC explained that he 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 APC. Prior to the declaration, there was an intelligence report made available to him that the two national commissioners were at the Government House, Yola at 8:31pm on April 15, 2023 and held a meeting with Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri.
However, some PDP supporters immediately attacked two INEC commissioners and the returning officer for allegedly failing to deliver Governor Fintiri, after the declaration, adding that “it was alleged that the people beaten in the purported video wanted to subvert the rerun election in Adamawa State and undermine the will of the people as expressed through the ballot.”
