The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has called on Hudu Yunusa Ari, the dismissed Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Adamawa State, to prove his innocence in court over allegations of disrupting the 2023 governorship election.
Ari is currently facing prosecution by INEC for alleged electoral offenses. He recently claimed to possess evidence that Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed, popularly known as Binani, of the All Progressives Congress (APC), won the election.
Controversy erupted when Ari prematurely declared Binani the winner while the rerun was still ongoing. His sudden departure from the state, citing threats to his life, further fueled suspicions.
But INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olimekun, said that the commission would not comment on Ari’s allegations because his case is currently in the court.
Olimekun said: “In response to your request, our attention has also been drawn to the interview granted by the former REC of Adamawa State, Mr. Hudu Yunusa Ari. There is nothing new in what he 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, sub judice.
“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 the due process of law and not a press conference.”
The Senate recently approved President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s request to sack Ari and two other RECs.
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