The foiled civilian coup foisted on the people of Adamawa State by the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Yunusa Hudu -Ari goaded by the ruling party is yet to be forgotten as the man who caused the electoral heist is still at large even when President Mohammadu Buhari had feebly ordered for his arrest
By Miracle Egbo
The 2023 general election is done and dusted but the tales oozing out from the Adamawa State governorship Supplementary election has given clue to what really happened on February 25, 2023 where the electoral umpire, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC hastily announced the winner of the presidential election without recourse to the rule it set for itself and to some extent what the constitution of the country says about who is qualified to be declared the winner of the presidential race.
Yunusa Hudu -Ari, the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Adamawa State has been accused by opposition political parties of having tried to replicate the alleged electoral heist foisted on the electorate on February 25, 2023 but was not smart enough to note that his action would be inimical to the rules and regulations guiding the conduct of election in the country. Hudu- Ari, toeing the stubborn posture of his boss, Professor Mahmood Yakubu in announcing the presidential election results tried the stunt but was caught napping because he failed to close all the loopholes that would challenge the authenticity of his political heist in Adamawa State. He had against all the rules of the game announced the governorship candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Aisha Dahiru Binani as the winner of the governorship election in the state with blatant disregard to the rule of law. According to the law guiding the conduct of the governorship election, only the National Collation Officer is allowed to announce the result after collation of results from the local government areas that makeup the state.
And in well choreographed manner, Binani the APC candidate in the governorship race, handy with prepared acceptance speech proceeded to a national television House, NTA, to be precise, to read the speech, thanking the electorate for voting her as the governor of the State. To legitimize illegitimacy, Minister of State for Labour , Mr. Festus Keyamo took to his twitter handle to congratulate Binani who was declared winner in error, adding that her victory was a confirmation that the electorate were in love with his party, APC.
Since the foiled electoral heist foisted on the people of Adamawa, there have been torrents of condemnation coming from various political quarters. The most potent is the one coming from President Mohammadu Buhari who had ordered for the arrest of Hudu- Ari and proper investigation of what transpired in Adamawa State. Investigation scooped by Tentacle revealed that since the directive was handed down to the security operatives to arrest Hudu-Ari, they have not acted on that instruction. Instead, according to information made available to this medium, Hudu-Ari had boldly written to police and the Department of Security Service, DSS, to explain some certain things that happened, adding that he did not act alone and should not be singled out to be punished. According to the information, Hudu-Ari said that for him to show up for arrest, the police must assure him that those involved in the case no matter how highly placed must be brought to the book before he would show up at the police command. The source revealed that the electoral umpire was not forcefully in reprimanding him because all of the national officers of the commission are allegedly neck deep in the heist foisted on the country during the 2023 general election.
Investigation at the disposal of this medium revealed that nothing will come out of the case because what happened in Adamawa is a metaphor for what transpired in the 2023 general election that has been condemned by both local and international communities.
Festus Okoye, the National Commissioner of the electoral umpire in charge of voter education has been dissipating his energy that Ari would be punished but refused to tell the general public why INEC the 2022 Electoral Act as amended gave power to prosecute electoral offenders are still dragging its foot in dealing with Ari. Some political analysts who would not want their name in print told this medium that nothing is going to come out of the case because a lot of people in the electoral umpire could be indicted in the process if the Adamawa REC is to be prosecuted. According to an informed source, Ari is not going to go down alone if he is going to be touched by the long arm of the law, “he is going to spill the beans. He is determined to make sure that those who plodded him on are not left out in the forthcoming punishment because of the heist. He is ever determined to rock the boat”.
An informed Aso Rock sources told this medium that nothing tangible would come of the case even if Ari is arrested at the end of the day. “Let me assure you that Ari did not act alone, and arresting him is inimical to the whole systems that supervised the 2023 general election in the country, adding that the poser that is absolutely behind the shenanigan that transpired during the ill fated election that has left in its wake blood in the streets of the nation has not been properly answered to. Nothing really will come out of that case that I can assure you”.
