The suspended Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Adamawa State, Hudu Yunusa Ari is in police custody, according to a Channels Television report.
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 into 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.
Ari had courted controversy after the supplementary election in Adamawa on April 15, 2023, when he announced Aisha ‘Binani’ Dahiru of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the dramatic poll while the 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 a 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.
