Solomon Kumangar is the Permanent Secretary, Adamawa State Ministry of Information. In this interview with MAYOWA SAMUEL, he speaks extensively on the charges leveled against the suspended Resident Electoral Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Adamawa State, Hudu Yunusa-Ari. Excerpts:
The suspended INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Adamawa State, Hudu Yunusa-Ari, has been dragged to court on a six count charge following his action during the state governorship election. How did the state government receive this news?
Well, it means the die is cast and the chicken will now come home to roost. Justice, we hope will take its full course and at the end of the day, those who need to be convicted and imprisoned should be, to serve as deterrent for such kind of behaviour or action.
It will be good for democracy itself and it will also prove that the days of impunity are over. If the case against Hudu is pursued with due diligence, it will also improve the credibility of INEC in the sight of the public. As it is, what Hudu did during that election was shameful, unfortunate and a big blight on our democracy and the electoral umpire who has to rectify this in the eyes of the people and the world at large.
Ari said he did what he did to prevent the breakdown of law and order, that his life was threatened, his house was surrounded by security agents, that Governor Umaru Fintiri allegedly had a meeting with INEC officials, probably for results to turn to his favour, amongst other claims like that. Do you agree with him?
In the first place, Hudu was given free hand to operate, even when it was already known clearly to the world that he had taken sides, and he’s working for the opposition party. Remember there was a tape that was released during that election in which he phoned the Resident Electoral Officer in Fufore Local Government that was after almost all the results had been collated.
It was Fufore, Madagali and a few other local governments that were left when that tape came out. He was heard telling the Fufore Resident Electoral Officer to inflate the election in favour of the APC candidate. Given that kind of scenario, how can you now allow this man to continue conducting the election? The good thing to have done was for INEC to ask him to relieve himself from being part of that election, but they didn’t do it.
They did it in Sokoto State and other places. In Sokoto State, when they had problems with the REC, he was suspended and he wasn’t allowed to conduct the Supplementary election.
But here in Adamawa State, in spite of the overwhelming evidence against Hudu, there was clear evidence that the man had been severely compromised and was hell bent on the opposition candidate winning the election.
Therefore, it wasn’t surprising that in the end, he did what he did even when the supplementary elections were not yet concluded. Only 10 or eleven local governments had been collated, remaining 10, but he suddenly came into the collation center and made this kangaroo announcement. So, whatever excuses he makes now, will not absorb him from anything.
“His thinking was that once he announces, whether it was right or wrong, that there was no way it could be reversed, except by the tribunal. But the entire thing was cancelled by INEC because he never had the authority, he was not vested with the authority to make the announcement, therefore it couldn’t hold, and INEC declared it null and void and of no consequence”
Ari in his defense said part of why he made the announcement was because the results that were brought to him were different from what was on IREV. What’s the level of truth in that from your own point of view?
There’s no level of truth to it. Hudu is just justifying his actions. Even the paper with which he made the announcement was not the proper collation form.
The INEC people know the proper form which is to be collected and properly input the results. Therefore he has no reason to question the results that were uploaded on IREV. The opposition party and their polling agents went with a result of 37,000 for Fufore because they sent their agents to steal the original results, not knowing that the original results had been taken to the police.
Before the counting of the results, all the results of the wards from Fufore had been uploaded on the IREV. When the result was finally declared by the electoral officer in Fufore and he now brought it for collation at the collation center, the APC protested, which made the state Returning Officer, Prof. Muhammed Mele, to ask for the results to be downloaded from the IREV. It was from the IREV that the Fufore result was downloaded and then accepted for collation.
Hudu is not the collating officer, the collation and returning officer is Prof. Mele.
He (Hudu) was just supposed to be chairman of the security Committee of the elections with the commissioner of police.
I remember even that day, the Commissioner of Police, who then was the co-chairman, had asked him to make sure that the Fufore result was collated and announced.
Therefore, Hudu had no excuse at all, he wasn’t part of the process, so why should the results be given to him?
He’s not the returning officer or the collation officer, he was only the REC, who had no business at all with result collation, returns and announcement of winners. You needed to have seen the sheet on which he read the results. All he did was write the overall result, there was no input of result from wards, results from local government, no summary about cancelled votes, invalid votes, or rejected votes.
That’s to tell you that he did this out of complete mischief, he never wanted the election to take place. They had already cooked up the result, along with the opposition, that’s the result they were trying to announce.
When they found out that the two national electoral commissioners had continued to collate the results against their wishes and personal desires, that’s when he came back and saw that his game was up. Therefore, he needed to jeopardize the entire process.
His thinking was that once he announces, whether it was right or wrong, that there was no way it could be reversed, except by the tribunal. But the entire thing was cancelled by INEC because he never had the authority, he was not vested with the authority to make the announcement, therefore it couldn’t hold, and INEC declared it null and void and of no consequence.
The APC is the ruling party at the national level, and like you also said, Hudu was bent on the APC winning the election. Bearing this in mind, if Hudu was helping the APC to win the election, do you think justice will be served against the suspended REC?
Justice will take its full course, I’m confident in the Nigerian judiciary. Hudu’s case will be a litmus test of the effectiveness of our justice system. Don’t forget that people have been calling for the trial of those who have committed electoral offenses before and I know that there was only one case in which something like that happened, I think one of the RECs from one of these South-South states was convicted.
This is a very big challenge for our judiciary; it’s not a matter of whether the APC is in power at the federal level. I believe that the ruling party won’t want anything to interfere with the course of justice because it also has a case to prove. Right now, the ruling party has also been taken to the tribunal. So, what we’re hoping for is that justice will be served in all the cases, regardless of whether the ruling party is there or has any interest or not.
Do you think the candidate of the APC at that election, Aishatu Dahiru Ahmed Binani, should go down with the suspended REC? Do you think she also has a case to answer?
She does have a case to answer because immediately after that announcement was made, she went on national television and other media organisations to give her acceptance speech, even when collation was going on. Therefore, she’s an accomplice and she should also be prosecuted along with Hudu.
Do you see what happened in Adamawa State as an indictment on INEC at the national level, that even the presidential election might have been compromised?
Of course, they say when the owl cries at night, and the baby dies in the morning, then there must be something afoot, that’s just the truth. If the same thing could happen in Adamawa State, where a lot of impunity was allowed to be perpetuated, we could also raise lots of questions about the credibility of the entire elections both at the national and at the state level.
It goes without saying that as it is, because of some of these things that have happened; you’ll know that three or four political parties that lost in the election have gone to the tribunal, so it goes to speak about the credibility of the whole process.
If the political parties that participated in the election have no confidence in the conduct of the elections, then the issue of litigation will arise. It goes to speak about the entire process. Was it credible? Was it free and fair? Was it skewed in somebody’s favour? These are the questions that eventually when judgments are made, we’ll be able to get the answers.
You must have seen the EU report. Some supporters of President Bola Tinubu went to the E.U office to protest the report, accusing them of bias in their assessment, as well as interference, and so on. How do you see the report by the EU on the 2023 elections? Do you support their findings and is the Pro-Tinubu protest justified?
They should know that the European Union is heavily subsidizing our elections. So, it means you’ll put your money where your mouth is. So, of course they have the moral right to question the credibility of the process.
Don’t forget, in the run up to these elections, Prof. Yakubu Mahmood gave assurances to the fact that the elections are going to be conducted according to the Electoral Act, and that they’re going to be free and fair.
The question that’s being asked now is that part of the process that’s supposed to make the process free and fair were not observed, like the use of the BIVAS for instance, like the electronic transfer of the results from the polling units to the IREV portal, but all these were flouted and completely ignored.
Donour countries, development partners like the EU have the moral ground to question the credibility of the election and state clearly what they’ve seen, because the truth of the matter is that these people can’t be bought over, and these are people who are independent minded.
Therefore, they’ll not say simply because the winner has been declared that the process by which the man emerged can’t be questioned, especially by those people who are part of the sponsors of our elections. So, I think it was very wrong for these Nigerians to also protest because this is democracy, everybody should have a say but let the majority have their way.
“She does have a case to answer because immediately after that announcement was made, she went on national television and other media organisations to give her acceptance speech, even when collation was going on. Therefore, she’s an accomplice and she should also be prosecuted along with Hudu”
Do you think the same should have been done when Tinubu was declared winner, since there were already complaints that most of the results had not yet been uploaded, so the winners shouldn’t have been announced?
In the case of the presidential election, it was the returning officer, Yakubu Mahmood who made the announcement.
In his case, he had the backing of the Electoral Act and the Constitution. He’s vested with the powers and that declaration stands, because as long as it’s not nullified and reversed by the presidential election tribunal, nothing can reverse that decision.
It’s different from the declaration made by Hudu who did a rogue declaration where he wasn’t empowered under any law to do it. That’s why he’s now going to be prosecuted, that’s why we want our judiciary to set an example.
I wish to thank the Nigerian Bar Association which has offered to give services for the prosecution of electoral offenders. So, there’s a world of difference between what Hudu did and the declaration by Prof. Mahmood. Besides, nothing in our electoral laws preclude him from announcing what the results had given him as the winner from announcing it because he is vested with those powers. Therefore, this is where the point of departure is.
At the presidential election tribunal, the PDP, LP closed their cases against Tinubu, APC and INEC, who have also closed their defence. How have you seen the proceedings so far?
I will always like to tell you that court cases are like a pregnant woman. Thanks to technology, these days, we can determine the gender of a child through technology before the child is born.
However, in court cases, it’s not like that. What may seem to you as a good case may not be like that, it’s left to the judges.
But I’m confident that justice will be served, depending on the kinds of cases presented before them, it’s now up to the judges. Whichever way it goes, it’s democracy that will triumph in the end. It’s a good thing that the opposition political parties have followed the due process in challenging the victory of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
They’ve proven themselves to be democrats by following the right way, by not taking up what will create problems in the country. I think generally, the attitude of the judges, in my opinion, will not want anything that will bring chaos in the country. I think eventually, what will happen is that no matter how it goes, the opposition parties that went are democrats and whatever the outcome, it will be acceptable because it is Nigeria that we are talking about, not individual interests.
