The Chairman of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Yabagi Sani has commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for taking action against a suspended Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Adamawa State, Hudu Ari, saying that the commission demonstrated that it means business.
INEC filed six counts against Ari, who declared Aisha ‘Binani’ Dahiru of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner of the dramatic Adamawa governorship election in April while results were still being collated.
INEC had to nullify Ari’s decision and suspend him while then-President Muhammadu Buhari ordered a full investigation into the matter.
The electoral body subsequently concluded the election and announced the incumbent governor, Ahmadu Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the authentic winner of the election.
INEC later sued Ari and the case was filed at the High Court in Yola, the Adamawa State capital.
Commenting on the development as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday, the IPAC chairman said that INEC has done what all Nigerians expected it to do, adding that the staff of the Commission need discipline.
“I think INEC has done what we expected it to do; I am talking about the Chairman now and of course INEC as a body. In any situation where there is no discipline what you find is a total disorganisation and the staff of INEC need to be disciplined,” the IPAC chief stated.
“That the man (Ari) has now been charged is long overdue because the kind of impunity that was displayed violated all the INEC extant rules. It is something that beats one’s imagination. This is because you will expect that somebody at that level should be able to know the implications of doing what he did.
“We need to start showing that we are a serious country and if we toy with the future of this country by way of handling our elections with such levity, we will for long be in vicious cycle, there will be no progress economically, socially and politically. We need to be serious and I think this action by INEC has demonstrated that it really means business,” Sani said.