Suspended Adamawa REC, Yunusa Ari To Be Arraigned Today

The suspended Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Adamawa State, Yunusa Hudi Ari, will be arraigned before the Adamawa State High Court sitting in Yola, the state capital.

The arraignment was initially set for July 27, 2023, but was delayed due to the REC’s failure to appear in court, while Justice Benjamin Manji Lawan after that adjourned the case for the third time.

However, the court set Yunusa’s arraignment for today, October 6, 2023, to enable the electoral umpire to arraign its suspended officer for alleged electoral offences.

Hudu has been facing charges which include announcing false electoral results, breaching his oath of neutrality, disorderly conduct during elections, inciting disturbance, and personating a public servant.

We had reported how Hudu Yunusa-Ari was suspended for violating the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 and was flown out of Yola in a private jet.

Yunusa-Ari had declared Aishatu Dahiru Binani of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the poll even though the collation of the results of the supplementary election had yet to be completed.

He bizarrely allocated 221,303 votes to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate and the incumbent governor, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, which represented a 50 per cent shortfall from his initial 400,000 votes.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), however, swiftly nullified the announcement and invited the REC to its headquarters in Abuja.

This followed a supplementary governorship election held in the state and won by Governor Fintiri.