The Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Hudu Ari, has been demanded to be detained immediately by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for proclaiming Aishatu Ahmed, also known as Aisha Binani, the winner of the supplementary election on Saturday.
The election results were still filtering in from the several regions where the exercise was conducted when the party made this statement, which was set against the controversy surrounding Binani’s designation as the contest’s victor by Ari.
The PDP demanded Ari’s immediate arrest in a statement released by its national publicity secretary, Debo Ologunagba, who branded his proclamation of results “criminal usurpation of the duties and powers of the Returning Officer.”
“The PDP demands the immediate arrest and prosecution of the Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mallam Hudu Ari, for making such an illegal declaration in the criminal usurpation of the duties and powers of the Returning Officer, Prof Mohammed Mele, while collation was ongoing.
“It is even more absurd that the Adamawa State REC did not only usurp the powers of the Returning Officer but also attempted to declare a winner without figures in reckless violation of the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), the Electoral Act, 2022, The Independent National Electoral Commission Guidelines as well as the sensibility of the people of Adamawa State.
“This reprehensible criminal conduct of the Adamawa State REC confirms the earlier alarm by the PDP which demanded his immediate removal from Adamawa State following evidence of his complicity and being compromised by the APC and its candidate to manipulate the election in their favour notwithstanding the votes by the people of Adamawa State.
“Mallam Ari’s action is subversive and calculated to cause crisis in Adamawa State, destabilise our democracy and peaceful co-existence as a nation. We call on the Inspector General of Police to immediately arrest Mallam Ari and make him face the full wrath of the law for his conduct.
That said, Ologunagba called on the leadership of INEC to immediately direct the Returning Officer, “to conclude collation, announce the results from the polling units and declare our candidate, Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri as the winner, having scored the majority of lawful votes cast.”
He further noted that “From the results already collated across the 69 polling units where the supplementary elections held and which are on the INEC Result Viewing portal, Governor Fintiri clearly won the election.”
The PDP called on INEC to declare the result of the exercise, warning that “anything short of this will not be accepted by our party and the people of Adamawa State.”
