- By Kamil Opeyemi and Halimah Olamide
Irate mob have beaten and stripped a National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Adamawa State.
The National Commissioner was mistaken for the State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Yunusa Hudu Ari.
Ari had earlier announced the candidate of the All Progressive Congress in the election Senator Aisha Binani as the winner of the election in an action that drew the ire of those present at the Collation Centre on Sunday.
There have been outrage after the INEC official made his announcement and was subsequently summoned to the Abuja headquarters of the commission.
INEC had overruled Ari and declared null the alleged victory of Binani.
Before Ari’s controversial declaration, the state’s Returning Officer, Prof. Mele Mohammed, had declared results of 10 out of the 20 Councils where supplementary election held and had scheduled continuation for 11:00a.m. on Sunday.
But Ari came to the Collation Centre in company with the Commissioner of Police and the Director of DSS and declared Binani as the winner of the election.
Ari himself had, shortly after making his declaration, been harassed inside the collation room when one of the angry party agents grabbed his trousers and made to pull him for a physical attacks.
This was however prevented by some of the security personnel attached to the REC.
The tension that had brewed from the collation centre which had spread to the town had led to some angry party members to accost a National Commissioner who was beaten and stripped.
The National Commissioner was seen with blood stains in his mouth while he was asked to wear his trousers. In the video recorded while the official was detained, another voice was heard saying the man being tortured was not the REC but a National Commissioner.
Meanwhile, the PDP’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has called the attention of Nigerians to the game plan of upturning the democratic wishes of the people of Adamawa.
Atiku, in a statement signed by his media adviser, Paul Ibe, said the initial decision of the REC to declare the APC candidate as winner of the election is a case study of the shambolic nature of the 2023 elections in general.
“Here in Adamawa, we are witnesses to a novel practice in election management, where a REC announced the loser of an election as a winner. It is not in doubt that INEC has approached the Adamawa election with a preset agenda of declaring the APC at all cost.
“It is, therefore, on this note that we wish to call the attention of the world to the scheme being perpetrated by INEC to compromise the electoral wishes of the people of Adamawa. We also wish to inform the world that such behaviour by INEC has a natural consequence of unsettling the peace and security of the society.
“We have seen how INEC conducted the February 25 and March 18 elections against the run of play and challenging cheated candidates to go to the court, knowing the agenda that they are up to.”
The PDP has, however, demanded immediate arrest and prosecution of the REC for making such illegal declaration in criminal usurpation of the duties and powers of the Returning Officer, while collation was ongoing.