By Adesina Soyooye
After days of uncomfortable silence on the embarrassment caused the Nation in the Adamawa Governorship Supplementary Poll, President Muhammadu Buhari has finally weighed- in, and taken action.
The President, incidentally, reacted on a day his Minister for Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, tried to explain to shocked Nigerians why Mr President kept mum. He said it was the job of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to take action, not the President’s.
Finally reacting on Thursday, the President approved the immediate suspension of the Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Hudu Yunusa Ari from office until after the investigation of his embarrassing action by the Inspector General of Police.
Mr President also directed the Director-General of the Department of State Services, DSS, and the Commandant-General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, NSCDC to institute a probe into the activities of their officers in order to determine the role they played in the scandalous incident.
The Governorship Supplementary Poll was held on April 15, 2023, in Adamawa between incumbent Governor Ahmadu Fintiri, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, who was seeking a re-election for a second term in office, and the Candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Aishatu Dahiru Binani.
On Sunday, while collation was still going on, and while Fintiri was leading comfortably, REC Ari inexplicably, announced Binani as the winner, and so, Governor-elect. In doing that, not only did Ari break every law guiding the election, he usurped the job of the Returning Officer, Professor Mohammed Mele, the only person empowered by Law to announce the result.
Ari’s action triggered violence and protests. An obviously embarrassed Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, distanced itself from the REC, and cancelled his declaration of Binani as Governor-elect, and dismissed it as null and void.
In a statement signed by Mr. Willie Bassey, Director of Information, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, on behalf of the SGF, Mr. Boss Mustapha, the President directed the immediate investigation and prosecution, if found liable, of REC Hudu Yunusa Ari, by the Inspector General of Police.
The statement, also, “directed an investigation by the Inspector General of Police, Director-General of the Department of State Services, DSS, and the Commandant-General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, of the role their officers in aiding and abetting the conduct/actions of Barrister Hudu Yunusa Ari, and if found culpable, appropriate disciplinary actions, to be meted out to them.”
The embattled Ari, a Lawyer, no less, had earlier been asked by INEC to keep off from the activities of the Commission in Adamawa State.
The Administrative Secretary of INEC, Adamawa, will remain in charge for now.
