The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC has told the sacked Adamawa Resident Electoral Commissioner REC, Hudu Yunusa-Ari to go to court and claim his innocence rather than making spurious allegations in the media.
Vanguard reports that Yunusa-Ari, who had reportedly ran away from the country in the wake of the controversy that trailed his actions in the last Adamawa Governorship election, had at the weekend faulted his sack.
Yunusa-Ari said he has evidence to buttress his earlier decision to announce the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress APC, Aisha ‘Binani’ Dahiru, winner of the 2023 governorship election in Adamawa.
During his trial last year, Yunusa-Ari had reportedly gone into hiding, according to the Investigating Police Officer (IPO), CSP Moses Jolugbo, who appeared before the Adamawa State High Court of Justice.
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria SAN, Usman Suleiman who said he had the instructions of Yunusa-Ari’s son to appear for him, had told the court that his client (Hudu Yunusa Ari), was not in the country but in Niger Republic.
Asked about his reaction to Yunusa-Ari’s claims, Chief Press Secretary CPS to the INEC Chairman, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi told Vanguard that now that the sacked REC is back from hiding, he would do well to go to court to answer to charges against him and prove his innocence.
Oyekanmi said; “In response to your request, our attention has also been drawn to the interview granted by the former REC of Adamawa State, Mr Hudu Yunusa Ari. There is nothing new in what he said.
“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”.
