Declare Ari wanted, his whereabouts are unknown, it says
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Police have been informed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that the whereabouts of suspended Adamawa Resident Electoral Commission (REC) Hudu Yunusa-Ari are unknown and should be declared wanted.
INEC Information and Voter Education Committee Chairman Festus Okoye disclosed this on Channels Television.
Yunusa-Ari on April 16 announced Aisha Dahiru Binani of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner while the results were still being collated, even as he did not have the legal authority to declare the winner.
INEC national headquarters has since announced the suspension Yunusa-Ari and recommended him to the police for prosecution.
The INEC has also finished the collation and declared Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winner of the ballot.
“We don’t know where he is because, after this particular incident, the Commission wrote him and also called him on the phone. He never returned any of the calls, he never answered any of the calls,” Okoye said, according to reporting by Tribune.
“We asked him to report to the Commission on Sunday, we didn’t see him, we asked him to report on Monday we didn’t see him.
“So up till this moment, he has not reported and we don’t know his whereabouts.
“[It] is the responsibility of the Nigerian Police [to declare Ari wanted]. If they feel that his presence is absolutely needed during the investigation and he is nowhere to be found, it is their prerogative and discretion to declare him wanted.”
Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO) Olumuyiwa Adejobi confirmed receipt of an official communication from the INEC on the Adamawa saga and that “the IGP [Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba,] had immediately set up a team to do the needful in conjunction with the INEC team.”
__________________________________________________________________
Related articles:
INEC denies its officials compromised in Adamawa Gov election
Baba pledges to expedite investigation of Ari’s electoral offences
Atiku moans Adamawa REC Ari following ‘bad’ example of INEC Chair Yakubu
__________________________________________________________________
Baba pledges to expedite investigation of Ari’s electoral offences
In any case, Baba has pledged to hasten the investigation of Yunusa-Ari.
Baba acknowledged receipt of a letter dated 18 April 2023 which the INEC wrote to him to report the case, according to Force Public Relations Officer Muyiwa Adejobi.
Adejobi said the letter details the alleged impropriety of the actions of Yunusa-Ari during the supplementary election on April 15 and also asked the police to investigate and prosecute him.
He confirmed Baba has directed a team to work with INEC “to expedite action on the contents of the letter.”
Adejobi expressed the commitment of the police to upholding democratic values, saying Baba has given an assurance the police would leave no stone unturned in unraveling the causes of the “unwholesome conduct of the REC.”
All persons fingered in the course of investigation would be brought to book, he added.