Adamawa 2023 Polls: Dismissed REC-Ari, Turns Truth On Its Head Again – State Govt Says

The Adamawa State Government on Sunday, February 9, 2025, put a lie to the claim by the dismissed Resident Electoral Commission (REC), Hudu Ari that Senator Aisha Binani won the 2023 governorship election in the state.

A statement by Mr Solomon Kumangar, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information and Strategy, stressing that the sacked REC who has turned himself to fugitive, has never substantiated this assertion.

The Adamawa State Government specifically stated that Hudu Ari as a REC, lacked the power whatsoever and in any material particular to make a declaration in any election conducted in Adamawa.

Kumanga stressed that the provisions of the Electoral laws ensured that every election has a returning officer, who is mainly an ad-hoc staff member of the commission.

He noted that the dismissed REC, Hudu Yunusa Ari, repeated a known lie that Binani, not Fintiri, won 2023 polls before journalists on Saturday.

According to Kumanga; “INEC rogue REC Hudu Yunusa Ari repeated a lie he told two years ago. He asserted that Binani, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the 2023 gubernatorial election in Adamawa, won the 2023 polls, not Fintiri”.

Kumanga further said that the regulations guiding the 2023 elections in Nigeria, was unambiguous as no INEC REC could return a candidate, stressing that the partisanship of the dismissed REC, Hudu Yunusa Ari, was so glaring that he violated the oath of office he took to remain apolitical and neutral.

In the wordsof Kumanga; “Hudu was caught on tape begging a local government returning officer to help a woman. He further claimed the directive was from above. Despite Hudu’s rhetoric, he could not provide any evidence of the result he used in the illegal declaration.

“Finally, no court prevents Hudu from testifying; it was the petitioner’s side that withdrew Hudu from testifying at the election petition tribunal, having known that the REC lacks power to make a return in any election.

“In addition, if Hudu claims he was prevented from appearing in court, he should please come out of hiding, as there is still a pending case before him at the Adamawa State High Court; this is an avenue for him to come clean.

The statement stressed that there was no basis whatsoever for Hudu to claims that Binani won the 2023 election in Adamawa State.