The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has directed the Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Yunusa Hudu Ari, to ‘stay away’ from its premises in the state.
Development Diaries reports that the commission, in a letter dated 17 April, 2023, noted that the Administrative Secretary has been directed to take full charge of INEC in the state.
The directive follows the REC’s illegal declaration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Aisha Dahiru Binani, as the winner of the governorship election after Saturday’s supplementary poll.
‘I hereby convey the Commission’s decision that you (Barr. Hudu Yunusa Ari), Resident Electoral Commissioner, Adamawa State should stay away from the Commission’s office in Adamawa State immediately until further notice’, the letter signed by the Secretary to the Commission, Rose Oriaran-Anthony, read in part.
Development Diaries had called on INEC to suspend the Adamawa REC for violating section 65 of the Electoral Act 2022, as the Returning Officer is the electoral officer with the power to declare the result or winner of an election.
We now call on INEC and the Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) to ensure that persons who assaulted a national commissioner of the commission in the state are arrested and prosecuted.
