Former Director of Publicity and Voter Education for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, has revealed that Hudu Yunusa-Ari, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) responsible for overseeing the Adamawa gubernatorial election, could face a jail sentence of up to 36 months if he is found guilty of declaring an incorrect result.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that Osaze-Uzzi made the statement during an interview on Arise Television’s The Morning Show on Monday.
Osaze-Uzzi said, “If he is against the law, I think in Section 120 sub-section 4 Electoral Act of 2020 made it specific clear that any person who knowingly declares a wrong result is guilty of an offence and if found deniable is liable to conviction for 36 months.
“I don’t know why he did what he did, I am happy with the reaction of the commission, it was swift and decisive. He is certainly not the returning officer.”
This comes after Yunusa-Ari declared Aisha Binani of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the election on Sunday, sparking a major controversy.
Prior to the suspension of the collation exercise on Saturday night, results from ten local government areas had been announced, and Binani was trailing the incumbent governor, Ahmadu Fintiri. INEC quickly denounced the announcement and suspended the collation of supplementary election results. The electoral body has also summoned Yunusa-Ari to Abuja.
