The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has dismissed the claims by a former Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Adamawa State, Barrister Hudu Yunusa-Ari, telling him to defend himself in the court for his actions and not with press conferences.
Yunusa-Ari was sacked over his controversial declaration of Senator Aishatu Dahiru (also known as Binani) of the All Progressives Party (APC) as the winner of the 2023 Adamawa governorship election while collation was still ongoing.
The Senate, while approving the request of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, sacked the embattled former REC after months of going underground.
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However, Yunusa-Ari, resurfaced at the weekend in Bauchi at a press conference with allegations that INEC suppressed evidence proving Binani’s victory.
He accused the INECs leadership of ignoring critical documents that could have altered the election’s outcome against incumbent Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Reacting to Yunusa-Ari’s statements about the 2023 Adamawa governorship election, Mr Rotimi Lawrence Oyekanmi, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, said the commission saw nothing new in his remarks.
Oyekanmi noted that the election dispute had already been conclusively settled, with the Supreme Court delivering the final judgment.
“In any case, the substantive matter of the 2023 Adamawa State Governorship election has been determined through the appropriate judicial process from the trial Tribunal to the Appeal Tribunal and finally settled by the Supreme Court.
“The commission will not comment on the propriety or otherwise of his conduct during the concluding part of the election as the matter is right now the subject of litigation at the High Court sitting in Yola and therefore subjudice.
“Now that he is back in the country, the right place to prove his innocence and the propriety of his action is by availing himself for the due process of law and not a press conference,” Oyekanmi said.
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