The suspended Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Hudu Yunusa-Ari, has been apprehended by the Police in Abuja even as he insisted that he has no regrets about doing what he did.
He was arrested on Tuesday afternoon about 15 days after the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had sent a petition to the Inspector-General of Police to arrest and prosecute him for declaring Senator Aishatu Ahmed (Binani) of the All Progressives Congress, APC, the winner of the Adamawa State governorship election, while the results were still being collated.
Yunusa-Ari’s arrest came shortly after he declared that he had no regrets about declaring the APC governorship candidate winner in controversial circumstances.
Africa Today News, New York recalls that Yunusa-Ari had stirred controversy by declaring Aisha Binani Dahiru as the winner when the collation of the results was yet to be completed on April 16.
INEC on April 17 declared Yunusa-Ari’s announcement null and void and summoned the REC and the Adamawa governorship election Chief Returning Officer, Professor Muhammed Mele, to its headquarters in Abuja.
Read Also: Adamawa Guber: Why I Declared Binani Winner – Yunusa-Ari
Mele completed the collation of results and announced Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as the winner of the poll on April 18.
The electoral umpire subsequently on April 18, wrote to the Nigeria Police Force to prosecute Yunusa-Ari over the electoral infraction.
President Muhammadu Buhari had on the 20th of April approved the suspension of the Adamawa REC, pending the completion of an investigation by the police.
The Police in a statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Muyiwa Adejobi, confirmed the arrest of the suspended REC, who was declared wanted over the Adamawa governorship poll controversy.
He is currently in Police custody and is being grilled to ascertain the motives and motivations behind his alleged improper actions during the supplementary elections in Adamawa State.