Adamawa REC, Hudu Yunusa Ari Arrested

Suspended Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Adamawa State, Hudu Yunusa Ari has been taken into custody.

A police source on Tuesday confirmed to Channels Television via telephone conversation that the embattled REC is in police custody.

The development comes hours after Ari said in a BBC Hausa interview that he would surrender himself to the police two weeks after he went into hiding.

“I will surely turn myself in to the police. Before, there was no summon from the police but now there is one. I will soon come out from hiding,” the embattled REC had stated.

The suspended REC had also said he never regretted announcing Aisha ‘Binani’ Dahiru of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the 2023 governorship election in the state.

Ari had courted controversy after the supplementary election in Adamawa on April 15, 2023 when he announced Binani as the winner of the dramatic poll while collation of results was ongoing.

The situation prompted the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to nullify Ari’s decision and suspended him while President Muhammad Buhari ordered full investigation on the electoral commissioner and the security personnel that were around him when he made the declaration.

INEC subsequently concluded the election and announced the incumbent governor, Ahmadu Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the authentic winner of the drama-filled poll.

Security agencies had also been ordered to arrest and prosecute the embattled REC but Ari’s whereabouts was unknown for over two weeks before the latest development of Tuesday.