High Court Orders Arrest, Trial of Ex-Adamawa REC
POLITICS DIGEST – The Federal High Court, Abuja, on Friday, dismissed a suit filed by Hudu Yunusa-Ari, the suspended Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Adamawa State, seeking protection against arrest, detention or prosecution by the police and others.
The judge, James Omotosho, in a judgement, dismissed the suit for lacking in merit.
Omotosho held that Yunusa-Ari, in his fundamental rights enforcement suit, made an elaborate show by trying to shield himself from being arrested, detained or prosecuted by security agencies, but that there was no ground where such immunity could have been granted by the court.
INEC had last July filed charges against Mr Yunusa-Ari, over his illegal declaration of cooked-up results at the last Adamawa State governorship election on 16 April 2023.
Read Also:
Recalled that POLITICS DIGEST reported last year that he caused a stir when he illegally declared the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Aisha Dahiru, popularly known as Binani, the election winner a day after the supplementary polls. When he made the declaration, votes were still being counted, and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Ahmadu Fintiri, was in a clear lead.
Dahiru’s legal efforts to have the courts affirm the winner of the election based on the fake results declared by Mr Yunusa failed, with the Supreme Court dismissing his case in January.
Delivering judgement on Yunusa-Ari’s suit seeking to block his arrest and trial for electoral fraud, Mr Omotosho of the Federal High Court agreed with the respondents that the suspended REC derailed his claims by arguing that the respondents subjected him to a media trial.
He observed that Yunusa-Ari also claimed that his fundamental right was breached by the respondents for posting negative information against him on social media, while insisting that he was not giving fair hearing.
But Omotosho held that the issue of fair hearing had nothing to do with publications of newsworthy matters by the media practitioners in order not to fail in their responsibility of dissemination of information to the society.
He said “news reported by the media is not a court of law and that the media, as the fourth estate of the realm, must be free to report at all times.”
Besides, he said the applicant had not shown that he was dragged to any court or tribunal but only claimed that the respondents engaged in a media trial against him.
