In referring to Hudi Ari, the governor meant the state resident electoral officer who was suspended after he declared a winner for the election when results were yet to be fully collated in March 2023.

In its judgement on Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled that what Hudu did was criminal because he was, in the first place, not the right person to declare a winner as he was not the returning officer.

Hudu had declared Fintiri’s strongest opponent in that election, Senator Aishatu Ahmed (Binani) of the All Progressives Congress, APC, winner, after which the talk of the town was that he collected N2 billion to brazenly declare a winner of a yet-to-be-concluded election process.