How Controversial Adamawa REC Was Once Indicted For N16bn Fraud

Amid the controversies generated by the ‘fraudulent’ declaration of the Adamawa state governorship election winner by the State’s Resident Electoral Commissioner, Hudu Yunusa Ari, checks by THE WHISTLER has revealed that the REC was once indicted in a 16 billion naira fraud during his time as a permanent secretary in the Bauchi State ministry of local government affairs.

Ari had become a national anti-hero after his declaration of Senator Aishatu Dahiru (Binani) as Adamawa State governor-elect while the collation of results was still ongoing, usurping the duties and powers of the Returning Officer, Prof Mohammed Mele.

Subsequently the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) suspended the exercise and summoned the REC to Abuja for questioning.

Indictment As Permanent Secretary

A deep dive into his life before his appointment as REC showed that Ari was a public servant in Bauchi State civil service rising through the ranks to become permanent secretary in the ministry of local government affairs during the tenure of former governor, Isa Yuguda.

In January 2016, Yuguda’s successor, Muhammad Abubakar opened a probe and forensic audit of all contracts, expenditure and appointments made in all the ministries, departments and agencies from May 2007 to May 2015 when Yuguda was in office.

The probe committee in it’s report on January 6, 2017 indicted Yuguda as well as the Adamawa REC (Ari) stating that “the amount claimed to have been expended by the past administration in executing projects did not tally with the records of amount that accrued to the state from June 2007 to May 2015 from the Federation Accounts as contained in documents obtained from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.”

Specifically, Ari was indicted for being involved in funds diversion from the local governments’ contributions account to the tune of 16 billion naira.

The report said Yuguda, his former commissioners for local government affairs, former special advisers, former permanent secretaries and former accountants general or their representatives, as signatories to the JAAC accounts, are to account for N16 billion.

The Committee recommended that former commissioners in the ministry, Idris Halilu and Abubakar Faggo; retired Permanent Secretaries, Ado Santurakin Pali and Hudu Ari; special advisers in the ministry, former accountants general, or their representatives, being co-signatories to the JAAC accounts, as well as the Director, Finance and Accounts, Aliyu Mohammed, are to account for N3.5 billion for several “unjustified cash withdrawals” made from the accounts of the Ministry of Local Government Affairs by Mohammed Musa, the Cashier to JAAC Account.

“Within the period under review, the Committee discovered huge payments made in the Ministry for Local Government Affairs without appropriate payment vouchers,” the report added.

The committee also said N88.2 billion, being amount illegally remitted from the Ministry of Local Government Affairs from its Federation Account Allocations to various MDAs from June 2007 to May 2015, to be recovered from Yuguda, Yunusa Ari and other past top government officials.

Subsequently, the case was referred to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for prosecution, but not much was heard of it afterwards.

Nomination As REC Amid Protest By CSOs

On July 26, 2022, President Muhammadu Buhari forwarded the name of Yunusa Ari and 18 others to the senate for confirmation as INEC Resident Electoral Commissioners.

Weeks later, a coalition of civil society organisations (CSOs) led by YIAGA Africa rejected the nomination of RECs on the grounds that some of the nominees failed the constitutional test of non-partisanship and unquestionable integrity

The coalition also accused Buhari of nominating the officials without consulting the council of state in strict compliance with the provisions of Section 154(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.

“Some of the nominees of the President fail the constitutional test of non-partisanship and unquestionable integrity. Evidence abounds that some of the nominees are either partisan, politically aligned, or previously indicted for corruption.

“We contend that the appointment of these individuals as RECs will significantly undermine the neutrality and impartiality of the Independent National Electoral Commission, and it will increase mistrust in INEC and Nigeria’s electoral process.

“Also, we call for a thorough examination and background checks of the credentials of the nominees. The Senate is urged to reject these nominees that fall short of the threshold of non-partisanship and impeccable character.” YIAGA said in a statement.

However, the president refused to withdraw the nominations.

The senate, in confirming the nominees on October 7, 2022, said they had been properly screened in line with section 154(1) of the 1999 Constitution.

Senator Kabiru Gaya who chaired the screening committee said the committee was satisfied with the answer of the nominees to questions pertaining to their personal background, educational qualification, work experiences and the petitions submitted by Civil Society Organizations (CSOs).

He added that upon careful scrutiny of all relevant documents belonging to the nominees, the committee was satisfied with the qualifications, experiences and suitability of the nominees and subsequently recommends their appointment.

Civil Society Has Been Vindicated – Rafsanjani

Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, Executive Director of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre(CISLAC) told THE WHISTLER in a telephone interview that the the incident in Adamawa was a vindication of the alarms raised by the Civil Society when the RECs were appointed.

He said, “our constitution is very clear, you must not put in RECs who are political party members and who have clearly showed their political interest in a sensitive, unbiased, neutral and honest assignment.

“We in the civil society have pointed out the provision of the constitution with regard to the nomination of RECs, unfortunately, in gross violation of our laws, the president went ahead to nominate politicians to hold very sensitive, neutral unbiased positions.

“It is sad that we are now seeing the consequences of that kind of nomination because what we are seeing now is that people are using their official positions to perpetuate all sorts of illegality.

“If someone has been investigated and indicted for corruption, I don’t understand why such kind will be nominated for public office, I think the Buhari administration’s understanding and operation of the fight against corruption is simply a carricature and it is self inflicting,” he added.