It is now all over. But before the Adamawa State governorship election was called on Tuesday, it was full of drama and intrigues. At the centre of it was no less a person than the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Hudu Yunusa-Ari. The REC’s duty is to oversee the day-to-day running of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the state.
As the head of that office, his brief includes ensuring the smooth conduct of all elections organised by INEC. His job is to ensure that materials and men for the elections are intact and distributed ahead of time to all parts of the state, under the strict guidance of the national headquarters in Abuja.
As REC, Yunusa-Ari is expected to know all these and more. He ought to know the extent and limit of his power as REC so that he does not overreach himself. I do not know how long he has been REC or in what other capacity he had served the nation before landing the INEC job, I believe that he did the unthinkable during the just-concluded supplementary election in the state. To me, it was an intentional act and not one borne out of ignorance.
The Adamawa election was one of the two declared inconclusive after the March 18 governorship poll held in 28 states. The other was Kebbi. The supplementary election was held on April 15 and like the earlier March 18 poll, the theatrics started all over again amid allegations and counter-allegations by the camps of Governor Adamu Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and his arch-opponent Hajia Aishat Dahiru popularly known as Binani of the All Progressives Congress (APC). On March 18, they ran a neck-and-neck race, which led to the election being declared inconclusive.
Its conclusion was almost thrown into jeopardy on April 16 by Yunusa-Ari, who should know better. As REC, he was aware of the circumstances that led to the non-conclusion of the poll last month. Though, he was fingered as a major cause of the problem, the national headquarters of INEC did not pay much attention to the allegations against him. It seemed that he was given benefit of doubts in the circumstances since politicians are known for making all sorts of allegations during elections.
Politicians can do anything in their desperation to win. They will not hesitate to paint anybody, especially electoral officers black, if that is what it will take for them to win. In the first poll last month, allegations flew about against Yunusa-Ari. PDP and Fintiri blamed him for the non-conclusion of the poll. They believed that they won on the first ballot since the margin of lead between Yunusa-Ari and Binani was 31,000, while only 37,000 votes were outstanding in areas where the supplementary election would hold.
The Binani camp countered that she won the election having scored more votes than Fintiri. At a point, she was declared the winner in social media (based on results from God knows where). It took INEC’s intervention to restore order in the process, albeit temporarily. Interestingly, all these shenanigans found their way back into the process during the supplementary poll, with the least expected person, Yunusa-Ari in the thick of it. He chose to usurp the job of the Returning Officer (RO), Prof Mohammed Mele, by declaring Binani the winner,
If Yunusa-Ari did not perform the job of RO during the first election last month, what has changed to make him believe that he could do so during the supplementary poll? It is public officers like him that give the government a bad name. Earlier reactions to his misdeeds in social media were directed at the government which many lampooned for trying to manipulate the election to favour the candidate of the ruling party. Yunusa-Ari is a disgrace to the office of REC. People like him are the ones behind the mess Nigeria is in today as a nation.
Why would a REC suddenly wake up and decide to wreck the same election that he was supposed to superintend? Was he working for someone? Who is that person or party? How much was he paid for the dirty job? There is more to what he did in full public glare than the people saw? I mean is there any deliberate ploy to cause anarchy through the disruption of the Adamawa election so that champions of interim government can have their way? Yunusa-Ari and his ilk should hear this and hear it well, their plan to foist on the nation an illegal government through the backdoor will never work.
Yunusa-Ari must answer for his folly! Why for God sake did he descend from his Olympian height into the arena to show partisanship in a contest that he was the umpire? As a man under authority who exercises delegated authority, his power is not all-embracing. He does only what he is asked to do. Did he declare Binani winner because he was asked to do the job of RO? I doubt it; otherwise INEC would not have disowned him immediately.
I still believe that he did not act alone. Yunusa-Ari was acting a script written for him by those who do not have the nation’s interest at heart. Whether he names them or not, he should face the music for his REC-kless action. Having done what nobody had ever done, he must reap the consequence that nobody had never faced.