Illegal Declaration of Election Result: Adamawa REC Arrested?

Following what was considered an illegal declaration of the results of the supplementary Governorship election in Adamawa State, the Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mr Hudu Ari may have been arrested.

The national headquarters of INEC, which swiftly voided Hudu Ari’s declaration of Senator Aishatu Dahiru Ahmad Binani as the winner of the election, stressed that the REC usurped the function of the State Returning Officer for the election.

Section 64 & 65 of the Electoral Act 2022 and Part 3, of INEC Guidelines vest the power to declare results sole on the a Returning Officer appointed by INEC. Announcing the arrest of the Adamawa REC, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Emmanuel Umeh, stated on his official Twitter handle that Mr. Hudu Ari has been eventually arrested.

The presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar while condemning the action of Hudu Ari, called for his immediate arrest saying; “It is also our demand that the Adamawa REC and any other parties complicit in this treasonable act should be arrested immediately and prosecuted to the full extent of the law to serve as a deterrent to anti-democratic forces who may want to torpedo our democracy  and provoke violence in our country”.

The police is yet to confirm the arrest.