Court dismisses suspended Adamawa REC’s suit against IGP, others

By Vivian Okejeme

Justice James Omotoso of the Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed the suit filed by the suspended Resident Electoral Commissioner of Adamawa state, Hudu Yunusa-Ari for lacking in merit.
Yunasa-Ari is before the court, seeking protection from media trial, arrest and harassment by security agencies following his controversial announcement of the All Progressives Congress(APC) governorship candidate, Senator Aisha Binani Dahiru, as winner of the last Adamawa governorship poll.
Mentioned as Defendants in the suit are the Inspector General of Police(IGP) Nigeria Police Force,(NPF) the Attorney-General of Federation(AGF)and Minister of Justice, the Director of the State Security Service (SSS) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as 1st to 5th respondents respectively.
Yunasa-Ari, had announced Binani winner of the governorship poll against the due process but the declaration was annulled by the INEC leadership which eventually returned the incumbent governor, Umar Fintiri.
In his argument, his counsel, Jibrin Okutepa said his decision to announce Binani was due to a tight security breach in Adamawa.
He submitted that since the incident, the respondents kept issuing press statements against him when he had not been convicted by a law court.
Justice James Omotosho while delivering Judgement on held that the only issue to determine in the case is whether the fundamental rights of Hudu were breached by any of the respondents.
The trial judge noted that as fundamental as human rights are, there are exceptions.
Justice Omotosho noted that the applicant filed this suit to hide himself from prosecution for the role he played in the Adamawa guber poll.
The court therefore dismissed the suit for lacking in merit.