Who Wants to Shield Yunusa-Ari from Prosecution?

 POLITICAL NOTES

Many Nigerians were shocked that a Federal High Court in Abuja stopped the prosecution of the suspended Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Hudu Yunusa-Ari, over his declaration of Aisha Dahiru, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as winner of the March 18 poll.

Before the court order, going by the inability of security agencies to promptly arrest and prosecute Yunusa-Ari, many Nigerians had speculated that nothing would happen for his bizarre action as the matter would be swept under the carpet.

Yunusa-Ari had usurped the powers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Returning Officer in the state to declare a Dahiru, also known as Binani, as the winner of the last governorship election in Adamawa State.

But the Returning Officer would later declare Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the election after the proper collation of the results of the supplementary poll held on April 15.

The main election, which was earlier held on  March 18, was declared inconclusive because a clear winner did not emerge.

INEC had penultimate week announced that it had filed six charges at the Adamawa State High Court in Yola, the state capital, against Yunusa-Ari, after the police concluded their investigations into the matter.

Following the development, Dahiru filed an ex parte application at the Federal High Court in Abuja to stop Yunusa-Ari’s trial.   Her lawyer, Michael Aondoakaa (SAN), moved the application on Monday, arguing that allowing the trial to proceed could jeopardise her case, challenging the election outcome at the election petition tribunal.

In the ex-parte motion marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/935/2023, Aondoakaa argued that until the election petition tribunal decides the fate of his client in accordance with section 149 of the Electoral Act 2022, the prosecution of Yunusa-Ari cannot be said to be valid.

Many have suspected that what is playing out is a calculated attempt to shield Yunusa-Ari from prosecution. Those who hold this view argue that since the case at the tribunal is a civil matter, it cannot stop his prosecution for criminal conduct. 

Events of the next few months will reveal if indeed there are unseen hands trying to frustrate the suspended INEC official.